The First Guardian
by Flameal Ashcrow
Summary: What if Kurosaki Ichigo was a lot more curious as a child? What if this led to him having an inquisitive mind? Just how much would this change the course of history? Let's find out, shall we? - Slightly AU. Rated M for sexual content and my dirty mouth.
1. Prologue  Enter the Guardian

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, I hardly own any clothes of my own, and I wash them with goddamn hand soap.

Author's Note: This is probably the only Author's Note I'll write before a chapter, all of them, if I do keep writing them, will be at the end of each chapter.

Reviews, if any, will be answered directly (I'll try to, at least). And not in the fic itself. I don't have any beta-reader, so all proofreading, what little there is, is done entirely by me.

Can anyone tell just how the hell to use scene breaks? You know, them fancy, unassuming lines that everyone but me seems to know how to use? Thanks.

EDIT: Scene breaks added as of the 12/16/12 update.

Any mistakes that escape my radar, please, for the love of Rukia, point them out for me, don't hesitate to ridicule me as you do so, it can only help me improve.

So, without further ado, I give you, ladies and gentle- Bah, just read

* * *

><p>The First Guardian.<p>

Prologue: The Curtain Rises, The Guardian is shown.

Kurosaki Ichigo was a very curious child, always inquisitive, looking for knowledge just for the sake of it. Or well, that' not entirely right, Kurosaki Ichigo's initial reason to embark on a pursuit for knowledge was related to the fact that he was very much a mama's boy.

Masaki Kurosaki, Ichigo's mother, spoiled the kid rotten. She would always be there a few minutes earlier than she predicted Ichigo would wake up in the morning just to make sure he wouldn't be alone at the start of the day. The big smile her son always had for her every single morning was enough for her to get through the day.

Isshin Kurosaki, Ichigo's father, a man just as loving as his wife, considered taking a different approach, and once brought up the idea of spoiling his son just a little bit less so that he would be less dependent on his mother and, in his own opinion "become stronger". Isshin was never quite sure where his wife got the mallet from, but oh boy was sure where he got the bump in his head from.

Years later, and he still felt a bump on the back of his head, covered by his hair enough for it to only be noticeable by feeling for it.

Young Ichigo was unlike many other children in that he had something no other children his age would be able to comprehend, since the ramifications the word itself evoked went far into a philosophical vein that not even Ichigo could accurately describe, but he understood, he knew it gave him a will, he knew this not from his mind, which was a knowledge sponge, but from his heart.

Kurosaki Ichigo had a purpose.

His purpose was one he gave himself, one that he acquired even before he could so much a spell any word, let alone the word 'purpose'.

Young Ichigo wanted to make his mother happy, and nothing made his mother happier than seeing him learn his first few words, his first few steps, the first time he used the toilet, the first time he bathed all by himself, and the first time he chose his own clothes to go out (immensely mismatched, yet Masaki would for years say proudly that her son had never looked more strapping young man than then.)

It went so far as to become a trend, whenever young Ichigo learned something new, his mother would be happy, and Ichigo eventually realized that the more times he acquired (and subsequently proved he had), new knowledge, such as how to properly spell 'plane', or how many hours there were in a day, the more times his mother would smile and praise him for it.

Thus Kurosaki Ichigo became a sponge for knowledge, his brain constantly working to memorize every little thing he would learn to perfection, and subsequently recall with the same quality so that he could relay it to his mother.

When Ichigo was four years old, his mother came to him in the arms of a very happy-looking Isshin, wearing an equally happy smile on her face, and told him of a miracle that was going to happen.

Masaki Kurosaki was pregnant, and Ichigo Kurosaki was going to be a big brother, and while he didn't understand how much that entailed back then, he believed it to be a "a pretty cool thing to call myself", to which Isshin laughed loudly and Masaki joined in her much more reserved, but equally jubilant, laughter.

'Pregnant', it was a new word for Ichigo, and thus a new venue he could use to acquire new knowledge to show to his mother, and thus Ichigo set out in a journey beginning with a fairly innocent word that would end with a sputtering Isshin and an absolutely furious Masaki that would go on to claim Isshin had 'corrupted' her beautiful baby boy.

This also lead to the awkward, yet enlightening (to both parties), and amazingly successful attempt to explain the 'birds and the bees' to a four year old that should not even be old enough to formulate such question in the eloquent manner he did.

Ichigo Kurosaki learned and memorized all there is to know about human reproduction at age four, and his parents learned that their child was quite possibly a genius, if he had understood all of that and asked perfectly valid (and sometimes horribly embarrassing) questions. It was the look on his face as he took it all in, however, that made both parents realize that even as hung up on his mother as he was, their son was far more mature than any kid his age had any right to be.

Masaki Kurosaki, however, did not let the fact that her son was growing up astonishingly fast, or that she was quite bloated (due to her being pregnant with twins, she later learned), deter her from her labor of doting on her son at every little chance she got, and perhaps even more than before so that he wouldn't feel 'displaced' by the oncoming offspring.

The moment that would start a chain of maturity that would define the whole being of Kurosaki Ichigo didn't happen until next year, on the 5th of May, two months before he turned five years old, when after long hours of painful labor (and he understood it had to be that way, having looked into all the information he could about it the previous year), Masaki Kurosaki gave birth to Yuzu and Karin Kurosaki, Ichigo's little sisters. When his father led him to the room where her mother was in their small clinic (seeing as they both refused to go the nearest hospital, each for their own reasons), he was excited, he was about to see what his mother had had growing inside of her for nine months, what had made the whole family wait with great anticipation.

It wasn't quite what he was expecting.

He was, in a single word, disappointed, they were very small, very cute babies, but he frankly didn't see what the whole deal was, and he was about to voice this to his father when he felt something tugging at his index finger. It was a little hand, attached to an equally little arm, coming from the small body of the twin baby closest to him.

Ichigo Kurosaki would never, in all his existence, understand what came through him in that single moment, but he came to the immediate, powerful and doubtless conclusion that he would protect the little beings on the little bed no matter what the cost was, from anyone and anything that would dare try to harm them (and for someone as imaginative as he was, he could think of quite a few things). What closed the deal for him was the look his mother had when he looked at her from where he was standing wide-eyed next to the little bed.

Happiness, joy, and ultimately great pride, was what he could see in his mother's eyes as she gazed at him sleepily from her bed, as if she had been able to hear the vow her son had made that day, and her look conveyed her feeling of approval of it, that her son would protect his little sisters and live up to his name, not 'strawberry' as the more straightforward translation would lead to, but 'First Guardian'.

Ichigo Kurosaki would grow to be a guardian, a protector, someone who would give his all to ensure the safety of his little sisters, who in short time gained a place in his heart equally in size to that of his mother's.

* * *

><p>When Ichigo Kurosaki turned seven, seeing as neither he nor his family were too keen on big parties, they decided to make it a small celebration just for the five of them, and so they went to a park to spend the day.<p>

Young Ichigo was sitting on a picnic table, listening to their parents arguing about which one of them forgot to bring the napkins (Isshin, in case you needed to know), when he witnessed something that made his blood boil, perhaps for the first time in his short life.

His sisters where happily playing in the sandbox, when another girl, obviously two years older than them if her size was any indication, decided that she liked Yuzu's pink (with little white and orange butterflies on it) bracelet and wanted it for herself, so she took it and left a surprised-looking and about to cry Yuzu Kurosaki lying on the sandbox.

Ichigo calmed himself down before he did anything, he was far older than the other girl and going there furious would just make her scared, all he wanted was to make her see that what she did was wrong and that he should give back his sister's bracelet, so he approached her.

"Hey, that's not right." Ichigo spoke to the offending girl, who just turned from admiring the bracelet in slight surprise. "You took my little sister's bracelet, and made her cry, it's not nice to take things that aren't yours." The little girl looked like she was about to answer, but before she did, Ichigo felt himself get shoved into the sandbox behind him.

"And what are you going to do about it, you orange punk?" Ichigo heard a voice that really made his ears hurt, not for how loud it was, but the tone bothered him greatly and made him want to shove something down its owner's throat. He looked up from his seated position and saw a boy about his age, with features much like that of the girl who stole his sister's bracelet, standing between him and said girl with an imperious look on his face. "If my little sister wants your stupid little sister's stupid bracelet, then my little sister gets it, got it, punk?" Ichigo felt himself, strangely enough, amused. This other kid fancied himself a good big brother, letting his sister get away with anything, without realizing that he was probably harming her chances of being a good person.

But then the fact that the other boy had called his Yuzu stupid registered and all amusement fled from his mind.

"Did you just call my little sister stupid?" Ichigo said as he slowly got up and out of the sandbox while slowly brushing the sand from his pants. The other kid looked as if the wind had left his sails, he didn't expect the orange-haired boy to take offense to that of all things, he expected him to be offended by the shove, or perhaps the fact that he was stopping him from getting the bracelet back. It was even more unnerving for him that the carrot-top didn't even seem angry at all.

Seem, alright, Ichigo was smoldering in rage on the inside, he could forgive the other girl's transgression because she didn't know better, and the fact that this moron standing in front of him was doing as he was just further proved that notion. But said moron had deliberately insulted Ichigo Kurosaki's little sister, and Ichigo Kurosaki was not about to take that and just lie down.

"I asked you a question, you fat moron, answer it." Ichigo said without even looking up from his shoes which he was still cleaning of any sand that fell from his pants onto them.

"W-what?" The other boy said, it was all that came to his mind, the whole situation was too foreign and he just didn't know how to respond to it.

"So aside from being fat, ugly, and overall idiotic, you're also deaf? Jeez, life sure dealt you a tough hand." Ichigo replied in all calmness, but as he looked up, the other kid realized that the carrot-top was indeed affected by his actions, if the fear that the unbridled fury reflected on Ichigo's eyes was any indication, this did not deter him from further decreasing his chances of proving himself lacking of self-preservation instincts.

"What did you say you punk?" The kid yelled at Ichigo who just raised an eyebrow and answered. "So you are deaf! I'm sorry but-" He didn't have time to answer as the other, larger kid, threw himself at him with a scream of rage and landed them both on the sandbox.

Ichigo's mind worked a million miles an hour, not because the older kid was on top of him and had just punched his face twice, but because it was the same sandbox that his little sisters were playing at.

He could not have this possible danger anywhere near his little sisters.

Ichigo's mind engaged into 'protect at all costs' mode and immediately shoved the larger kid off him and to the side, got up as fast as his body let him and, with strength he didn't know he possessed, grabbed the fat kid and threw him out of the sandbox and five feet away from it.

The other kid apparently just got madder because of this, and tried to come at him once more, but for Ichigo, it seemed a lot slower than first time, his mind was working faster than it ever had before, so he crouched under the punch the other kid threw at his face and delivered a massive uppercut to the other boy's chin, effectively throwing him two feet away and landing him on his back, too dazed to do anything.

The rest of that day was a bit of a blur to Ichigo, perhaps because of the adrenaline coursing through him, or perhaps because he ignored the rest of it, as his parents discussed the whole event with the other children's parents, and he was all smiles as he watched his little sisters resume their play in the sandbox, with Yuzu happily sporting her pink bracelet once again.

* * *

><p>After much coaxing from Isshin, Masaki finally gave into the idea of letting Ichigo learn martial arts to defend himself. Masaki argued that Ichigo would get hurt during class; Isshin told her that it would all be worth it if their son learned to defend himself, and so he wouldn't get hurt like he did when facing that other boy in the park.<p>

This was when Ichigo made his first friend, and strangely enough, it was a girl.

Tatsuki Arisawa was the very definition of tomboy, she was rude for a girl and despised any and all activities girls her age engaged in, she could not understand how they could consider fun playing with dolls and pretending to make tea ceremonies. She took delight on being able to beat up boys who thought themselves stronger than her and capable of winning a fight just because they were boys and she was a girl.

It made it much sweeter when she took them down, she felt.

He routine of beating up all boys of her age group (never any girls, they all outright refused to fight Tatsuki), came to a halt the day Kurosaki Ichigo became her opponent.

At first he struck her as arrogant, always looking serious and holding his head high, she figured taking him down would be just as easy as taking down all the other boys was. He was a rookie, to top that, so he would be easy pickings.

That was until she saw his eyes.

The moment Tatsuki saw the raw purpose, something she could not understand, in Ichigo's eyes, she couldn't help but be on guard. This boy gave off a vibe that made her want to take him seriously, she feared that if she didn't she would be the left on the ground.

Ichigo Kurosaki had one more purpose in his life, if he got stronger, he could finish fights faster, he could use his strength to better protect what he wanted to protect, his little sisters wouldn't even get close to a source of danger as they were that day in the park, he would be able to be the First Guardian he desired to be.

The match ended in a draw, with both of them knocking the air out of each other and their Sensei finishing the fight there.

Tatsuki felt she should be ashamed, she was this kid's senior by three years! Yet she could not help but feel an immense respect for the eyes that kept looking at her with great purpose even when their owner was holding his stomach and gasping for breath. He was fast because he had a drive that gave his very movement an unstoppable momentum, and strong because he his muscles gave everything they could so that Ichigo could accomplish his objective.

Later that day, a little after class was dismissed, she approached the kid who apparently had decided to stay for longer so he could practice kicks on sandbag.

"Hey, Kurosaki!" Ichigo turned around at the sound of the girl's voice. "Huh? Oh, you're that girl, Arisawa, right?" He responded while turning back to the sandbag.

"Hey, at least look at me while I'm talking! Don't you know it's disrespectful to turn your back on someone you're talking to?" Tatsuki pretended to be angry at him, just to see how he would respond to it.

"What do you want?" Well, that was unexpected. This boy intrigued her, so she decided to stop fooling around and just go straight to the point. "What were you thinking about when we sparred? You looked at me as if I was your worst enemy or something." That last part occurred to her just then, she wondered if perhaps she had offended the boy at some point and couldn't remember it.

"I have to give it my all." The boy answered between kicks, and Tatsuki just had another question pop into her head. "What for?" The answer came immediately, almost as if he had waited for the question.

"To protect."

Tatsuki couldn't even feel embarrassed by the confused "huh?" that came out of her mouth, which would have been comical to any outsider when coupled with her dumbfounded face.

Ichigo stopped his kicks and turned to look at her, once more the look in his eyes catching her off guard. "If I give it my all, I get a lot stronger, and if I get stronger, I can face bigger dangers without losing, by doing that, I can protect what I want to protect better than I could otherwise."

"Like, your family? Or do you want to protect everyone? Like a superhero or something?

Ichigo closed his eyes in thought, he had never really given much thought to his need to protect, was it just his sisters he wanted to safeguard? Well, yes, more than anything in the world, what about other people? He imagined himself in a situation that placed him in front of some stranger, someone helpless, but that he was in a position to give aid to. He didn't need to think much longer. "I want to protect everything I can protect. Everyone I am in possibility to help, I will. And if I can't help, then I'll become even stronger to make it possible."

The girl wasn't sure exactly what came over her when she asked her next question.

"Even me?"

Ichigo apparently didn't think it a strange question, and just smiled while keeping his fierce gaze trained on her face.

"Yes, even you."

With that, Ichigo turned back to the sand bag and started delivering kicks with his other leg, while Tatsuki couldn't help but feel awe when faced with the purpose of Kurosaki Ichigo.

This boy, who she had only met a couple of hours prior, had suddenly become the person she respected the most in the whole world.

He also became her first, and best, friend.

* * *

><p>When Kurosaki Ichigo turned eight years old, he spoke to his mother of an older woman who was sitting across from them in the park, as his family was having a picnic under a cherry tree. He felt the need to mention the elderly lady to his mother because she seemed to have a chain coming out of her chest, and connecting her to the tree she was sitting in front of.<p>

Masaki turned around to see what lady he was talking about, and came to the realization that Ichigo, just like his father and herself, could see ghosts.

That was another slightly awkward conversation with Ichigo, in which all previous knowledge of life and death that Ichigo accumulated since the moment he could spell either word was called into question.

Ichigo now knew that some people, or well, their souls, stayed on earth after they died, either because their emotions wouldn't let them go or they had some unfinished business.

Ichigo could tell there was something else they, or more specifically, his father, wasn't telling him, but the whole situation was new to him so he couldn't be sure.

"But the old lady looks so sad, mom, maybe she doesn't want to be here anymore but she can't go? Can we do anything to help her, mom?" Masaki couldn't help but smile at her son's heart of gold, so she called Isshin over from where he was pretending to be dead while Karin kicked him in the side while laughing and told her what just happened.

Isshin smiled warmly at his son and spoke to his wife "Let me handle this." Masaki nodded while smiling warmly once more at her son, who looked at his father questioningly as he took his hand and went walking slowly to where the elderly lady was chained to a tree.

"Do you mind if we sit here ma'am?" Isshin told the ghost of the old woman who looked sufficiently surprised that anyone could see her let alone speak to her.

"My my, what a couple of strapping men we have here. Of course I don't mind the company, come sit with me and talk to good ole' lady Shima, dohohoho!" The old lady spoke in a tone only a loving grandmother could use after years of raising children and grandchildren, followed by an honest laugh.

That day, Ichigo, for the first time in his eight years, felt like crying for someone else, the old lady was waiting for her husband, she told them that the morning that she died, she had told her husband that she would wait for him in that very tree for their yearly picnic in celebration of the founding of their book store. She had, as usual, awakened before her husband did and left him a note where she said where she would be and that everything would be ready when he got there.

During the walk to their usual spot in the park, a thief came at her with a knife, and told her to give him everything of value she had. The scare was too much for her old heart of seventy years to handle, and the subsequent stroke made her death rather swift, if a bit painful. But she ended up getting to the where she had told her husband she would be at so that he would not be worried about her, the old coot.

This happened forty years ago.

Ichigo didn't have the heart to tell her of all the grim possibilities his mind came up with, from the obvious one that her husband was dead and probably moved on by now, to the far more depressing one that her husband had probably died in his sleep that one morning.

It was with heavy hearts that both of the male Kurosaki family members that they went back to their girls.

Ichigo went back to the park the day after, to see if the old lady wanted company once again. It was to his great relief that he found that the old lady was no longer there, and had now moved on. The day before was the last time Kurosaki Ichigo saw Old Lady Shima.

Isshin Kurosaki, however saw her one more time.

* * *

><p>The day that would forever change the lives of the people in the Kurosaki household was July 17th; two days after young Ichigo turned nine years old.<p>

They were out having yet another family picnic, as was now custom for them all, two days later than usual due to the fact that the Kurosaki clinic had been overwhelmed with patients in the past week.

Ichigo was about to help picking up their supplies when he noticed something the silhouette of a young girl falling into the nearby river, which was going stronger than it usually did.

Ichigo's first thought was, rather than telling his parents about it, to run after the girl and do anything in his hands to help her.

The rest is a horrible blur, even for Isshin, who managed to see it all, and the story told afterwards would be different than the reality Ichigo managed to glimpse at in all his curiosity.

But no matter whose version of the events you paid attention to, the end result could not be changed. Masaki Kurosaki, loving wife and mother of three, had died.

People (including Ichigo) would be told that Ichigo had nearly drowned, and that his mother, in saving him, drowned herself. It wasn't an unbelievable story for anyone who knew Masaki Kurosaki, she was a mother everyone had no doubts would do just that.

Young Ichigo, however, knew better than that.

* * *

><p>The death of what was no doubt the center of the Kurosaki family affected each of its members in different ways.<p>

Isshin Kurosaki, having lost his wife meant the end of any romantic life he could ever have, Masaki was his one and only, there would never be another in his heart, and felt proud to show this fact by making an enormous poster of his wife that he put on the living room of their home, a picture of Masaki smiling at the camera looking every bit as beautiful as she always was with the letters "Masaki Forever" evidencing Isshin's feelings on the matter. He had to take a more active role in raising their children, albeit with a different approach than that of Masaki's.

After all, if he tried to replace her in any way, he'd never be able to forgive himself.

Karin Kurosaki, the twin that resembled more her father (Physically so, everyone doubted there would ever be someone like Isshin), became cold, or well, colder than usual. She was always a girl with a strong character, and the defense mechanism that her mind came up with was to not show anything and bottle it up inside, show no weakness and eventually, perhaps, the pain would go away.

Yuzu Kurosaki, the twin who looked much more like her mother, and the one everyone was sure would suffer the greatest shock of the two, was, to everyone's amazement, the one who took over her mother's duties around the house. She would make sure her father would be up in time to open up the clinic or go to whichever appointment he had, she cleaned around the house and made sure that everyone had their meals in time.

For Ichigo Kurosaki, the change was perhaps the most extreme. He didn't show much outwards (Other than what had apparently become a permanent scowl on his face), but on the inside, Ichigo's mind and heart were in enormous turmoil, half because he had, in his little mind, failed.

Failed to protect someone he loved, failed to see the danger approaching, and failed when he put someone else in a danger that was, by his own stupidity, his.

The other half was troubled by what he had seen and heard, his father believed Ichigo had bought the story he had given everyone else, but Ichigo had seen what happened, and heard what was said afterwards in his mother's funeral.

The last day that Kurosaki Ichigo cried.

* * *

><p>His father was talking to some odd people he had never seen before, presumably old friends of his coming to give him their condolences, but their grim faces spoke of something else, and Ichigo's brain, carefully tuned to search or knowledge, forced him to place his attention on them.<p>

The first one, a tall, thin man with strangely gray hair (strange because he seemed far too young to have lost hair coloration), wearing glasses and a face that said he didn't really want to be there, but stayed because he felt it was necessary.

Ichigo felt it too; he could tell it meant a lot for his father that he was there.

The second one was probably the strangest (and perhaps most intriguing) of the group. He was a tall man with pale blond hair that somehow managed to look as serious as the situation demanded, and at the same time look every bit as eccentric as anyone could be.

Who wears geta sandals coupled with a suit anyways? The bucket hat looked kind of cool, though.

The third, and last person of the trio of unknowns, was a dark skinned lady with purple hair and yellow eyes, Ichigo took note of her strange features and the fact that she seemed even more uncomfortable in the clothes she was wearing than the geta-wearing man.

They were having a quiet conversation with his father, and Ichigo couldn't help but eavesdrop, this seemed relevant to what he needed to know at the moment.

"How are you holding up, old friend?" The geta-wearing man asked, and Ichigo felt it was a stupid question, but then again, what does one say to a man who just lost the love of his life?

"As well as I can be, Kisuke." Now he had a name to add to the hat and the geta, Ichigo just needed to listen more closely in order to learn all he could about the people his father apparently knew very well, yet he had never heard of before.

"If there's anything we can do, let us know, okay?" Now it was the lady's voice offering her support, and Ichigo felt more than heard that the woman was honest, he was a very perceptive kid.

"I want to know where that Hollow is." Ichigo had to struggle not to wince, he had never before heard his father speak in such a severe tone, his father suddenly looked and felt like a man with a purpose, someone people would rather not get in the bad side of.

Ichigo's respect for the goofy man went up a couple of notches.

"So it was a Hollow." Now the man with the glasses and the early-silver hair spoke, in a rich, yet cold and unlike the others, not comforting at all tone.

Hollow, that was another word Ichigo needed to look into, was that the name of that, that creature, the thing that fooled him and took away his mother? All he could remember was a horrible laugh and a white mask. But now he had a name to put to it, and he would now investigate whatever he could about it, after all, if he knew what he was facing, he would be able to fight it in a more efficient manner.

He could not risk that creature coming back to take more away from him, he would not allow that thing to harm his sisters or anyone else he cared for. He would ruthlessly annihilate the monster, for that's what it was, if it ever dared show its pale mask again.

But first, he needed more information.

"It was a Hollow, apparently its initial target was Ichigo, perhaps because of Ichigo's strong Reiryoku, or perhaps because he seemed like easy pickings, but it fooled my son and Masaki paid the price. I want to know everything you can tell me about it, Kisuke, I will find it and I will destroy it to bring peace to Masaki's soul."

"It's been a long time since I last saw you with a purpose, is that your Shinigami side surfacing?" Spoke the man with the glasses and the regal arrogance. Ichigo wasn't sure he liked the man's tone, but he couldn't ponder it long before the word 'Shinigami' came to him. What was that? Why did he call his father that? And just what did this man know about his father that Ichigo didn't?

"This is the side of a man who lost his other half, Ryuuken, and if I so much as hear you've been using your Quincy powers to exterminate even the smallest Hollow around, so help me I am going to kill you."

Once again, Ichigo was taken aback by this new side of his father, but he couldn't help but like it.

"I haven't used them in years, you old fool… but I guess I understand where you're coming from, don't worry, I won't risk destroying your wife's soul." His mother's soul? What happened to her?

"The Hollow ate Masaki's soul; I will find it, destroy him and release her soul so that she can move on." Another surprise for Ichigo, apparently this creature – this 'Hollow' fed on souls, and it had taken his mother's soul; and in order to save her, it had to be destroyed, but not by the hand of this Ryuuken person and his 'Quincy' powers, or her soul would be destroyed.

Ichigo had so much to look into afterwards.

* * *

><p>Ichigo decided that if he wanted information, he couldn't look for it using conventional means, this was, after all, territory that obviously no one else in history (normal history, anyways) could know anything about.<p>

So he looked into the most obvious source of information, his goofy and oblivious father.

Ichigo figured that if his father had had a past life involving all those things he had learned, there must be some evidence of it somewhere, so he took every little chance he was left at home taking care of the twins to look through his father's things, from his underwear drawer to under the bed, he didn't turn up anything until he accidentally slipped on sweaty sock (Yuzu had yet to pick up his room that day, his father was pretty much lost without her), and landed painfully on his left elbow.

He didn't bother to spend much time registering the pain; he had heard a hollow sound where his elbow hit the floor.

He ran out to the kitchen to get a knife, which he easily slipped underneath the unnoticeably loose floor board, and revealed its hidden contents.

It was a bunch of papers, he noted with disappointment, though he wasn't quite sure what he was expecting, but then he saw one of the words he had promised himself to look into, written in a plain-looking book partially buried beneath the scrolls and papers.

Shinōureijutsuin (Spiritual Arts Academy)

Academy for Shinigami.

Shinigami. That word again, was it something you studied for? He didn't think it actually meant that those who referred to themselves by that name were actually Death Gods; maybe it was a cult thing? The idea of his goofy, moronic and laid-back father being a god nearly made double over in laughter.

Then he remembered how he was during the funeral.

Perhaps it was something serious, and deserved looking into, and the source of information was right before him. So he got to reading and committing every single word to memory.

It seemed, at first, like a work of fiction, an encyclopedia for imaginary things and subjects, but then he saw the scribbling, the hand-written notes with a calligraphy that could belong to Isshin Kurosaki, very few could write as bad as he did and even fewer could decipher it.

Maybe it's a doctor thing.

Things like 'it works better when you point two fingers instead of three at the end of the incantation' and 'not looking underneath the Hollow's mask is made a rule because there's some very ugly people out there' written with in his father's characteristic hieroglyphs made him realize that this was the real deal, that everything here was true and that his father knew all about it.

From then on he kept reading, every time his father was out of the house he'd sneak into his room and commit more things to memory, he learned that his father was a Shinigami, a Death God, he learned about, and made sure to memorize, all that there was written about the four disciplines of the Shinigami, how Shinigami did their jobs, what Hollows were, what a Plus was, the Gotei 13, the Soul Society (which he now knew was the Afterlife), the Seireitei, and a wide array of different terms and subjects that he was pretty sure no one else (on the Human World, at least) had the slightest idea about.

He stumbled upon a word that apparently defined him, but it was surrounded by a terrible lack of info or background research that nearly drove him mad.

Pureblood.

A Pureblood, it seemed, was the child of a Shinigami, born with Shinigami powers.

Ichigo now knew what Reiryoku was, and if his father's word was anything to go by, he had a lot of it. So if he had a high Spiritual Energy, and was the child of a Shinigami (he still couldn't quite wrap his head around that), then he fit that definition, too.

It was several months before Ichigo finished going through everything his father apparently didn't want him to know, and he wasn't quite sure how to feel about that.

On one hand, he felt he it was his right to know all of this, being what he was.

On the other hand, his newfound respect for his father, a Shinigami that had apparently abandoned everything so that he could marry a human woman he fell in love with, his mother, kept him from getting angry about it.

If his father had anything to say about it, he would tell him eventually, and if not, well, he figured he had his reasons, and Ichigo could respect that.

Ichigo now had the tools (or knowledge of them, at least) to prepare himself for what he sure was to come, he now had the means to make himself stronger.

He meditated and used all the exercises that Shinigami students used in the academy to access their power, in order to gain access to his own, so that he could use it to become a better protector.

He quit his Karate classes, he already felt he knew enough and he had memorized all there was to know about the hand-to-hand combat discipline of the Shinigami, Hakuda, and he would train himself on that.

Tatsuki was absolutely pissed off when Ichigo didn't give her a straight answer as to why he quit, but she finally chalked it up to the loss of his mother, she saw how much Ichigo loved her, and she was, in her opinion, the most beautiful and greatest mother she had ever seen.

The time previously spent learning Karate was spent learning Hakuda and using what little Reiryoku the kid of nine years had gained to learn and train in the Shinigami discipline of movement or agility, Hohō.

His father was led to believe he had a really clumsy son, as Ichigo would constantly show up with signs that he had smashed against walls or fallen down flights of stairs.

He could use the extremely advanced form of battle in combination with his newfound ability to move over a hundred feet in the blink of an eye to quickly neutralize any threat, though he had yet to find anything worth using either of his new powers on.

The discipline that later got him hooked was the one that resembled magic much like the one seen on his little sisters' storybooks and on fictional Television shows, Kidō, or the 'demon way'.

He had an enormous list of spells memorized, their incantations and effects easily accessible with the perfect recall of his trained mind, but he could only miserably scratch the surface of each of the ways of Kidō.

Bakudō, or the 'way of binding' seemed mostly inaccessible to him, it seemed his mindset just didn't fit into the psychological template necessary for binding spells, so performing even the lowest, level one spell was an exercise in futility.

That didn't mean he didn't memorize ways to destroy or undo bindings that would be set upon him, not that he thought that would ever happen, but just in case, you could never be prepared enough.

Perhaps he was a little bit paranoid.

Hadō, the 'way of destruction' class of Kidō, was one he couldn't wait to try out, and a soon as he felt he was ready, he chose the first two spells he felt would be the most useful to him.

The first, Byakurai, the pale lightning, was chosen or its simplicity, in that it could be used really fast due to its lack of incantation (not really, but the page he read on it had the incantation all covered in ink with a hand-written side note saying 'completely useless string of words, not required, trust me – U. K.' with a calligraphy he couldn't recognize), and when Ichigo first shot a ray of lightning that hit someone's fence, realized for the first time that this was even more proof than shunpō (the flash step, his fast movement technique) had been that all he had read about was real, and that he was now acquiring new power.

The second technique he chose was apparently placed quite a few levels higher than the pale lightning was, it being a level four technique, and this one being number thirty-three, and he felt it was necessary to learn it because it was straightforward enough as well as powerful, and he needed all the power he could get

"Ye lord! Mask of flesh and bone, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Truth and temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws. Hadō #33: Sōkatsui!"

The fact that it had a ridiculously awesome incantation had nothing to do with it. Nope, not at all.

Hey, he was nine; he was allowed to feel cool and awesome.

The last part of the Kidō arts, the Way of Healing, apparently didn't heavy anything in the way of spells; it was more of a mindset, a process in which the healer first replenished the Reiatsu of the patient, and then used it in conjunction with the healer's own to will the body to heal.

This last part was hard, astonishingly so, but not impossible as Bakudō had been, it just required a lot of experimentation on his part, seeing as he had an enormous amount of Spiritual Energy and, as a few birds could attest to, he usually overwhelmed his 'patients' and ended up killing them instead.

You couldn't wipe the triumphant smile off his face with a bulldozer the day he healed half a dozen cats without any accidents.

* * *

><p>The year Ichigo had turned eleven, he started skipping school in order to focus more on his training, and he had wanted for over one year to learn the last of the disciplines of the Shinigami, Zanjutsu, the swordsmanship discipline.<p>

Shinigami, he had learned, had a sword as their primary weapon, and it wasn't just any sword.

The Zanpakutō, the soul-cutter sword, was a weapon that took form guided by the Shinigami's soul, it was sentient, and it required intense training, sometimes spanning decades, for a Shinigami to be able to commute with the soul of his blade.

Ichigo had learned of the Zanpakutō's releases, and was immediately hooked on the subject. Unfortunately, he saw no way of acquiring one for himself, seeing as one had to actually become a Shinigami to get one.

Ichigo was walking back home from not going to school (and avoiding a definitely irate Tatsuki, who was now his schoolmate), when he suddenly felt like slapping himself silly.

He did, and then realized he must have really looked silly, so all in all, he succeeded.

He didn't have to become a Shinigami, he WAS a Shinigami, a Pureblood, he didn't have an Asauchi, the first sword all Shinigami are given, that later would become attuned to its wielder's soul, becoming a fully alive Zanpakutō, taking the form that fits the user's spirit most.

But being a Shinigami meant that somewhere, deep inside of him, rested the potential to create a sword, and while he could not give it a form, he could try to communicate with it, help it mature, so that when the time to wield it came, and he WAS sure it would, the process would go along much more smoothly.

This was troublesome, he already didn't have enough time to dedicate to all of his skills, unless he dropped from school altogether, something that his father would absolutely forbid, and that Tatsuki would probably tear him a new ass hole over.

Ichigo Kurosaki skipped school a lot, anyone who went to school with him could tell you that, but the school staff didn't call his father to talk about it because his absence did not reflect on his grades, much to their bafflement.

Ichigo Kurosaki was a sponge for all sorts of knowledge, had perfect memory recall, and was absolutely terrified of what Tatsuki would do if he started failing at school.

Not that he thought she could do anything to him, but he had learned over the years of knowing her that a pissed off human female was a force no amount of knowledge could properly prepare him for.

Oh yeah, she was also the second strongest girl in all of Japan, so there's that, too.

She proved this constantly and proudly by beating up anyone who dared to touch her best female friend, Inoue Orihime.

Orihime was… an interesting girl, to say the least, he had met her the year before in the Kurosaki clinic, not that you could call that a meeting, seeing as she was crying her eyes out as her brother died in a bed.

* * *

><p>Ichigo didn't see Orihime Inoue again until a few months later, when Tatsuki introduced them both and told him of her story.<p>

Kurosaki Ichigo now felt respect for a man he didn't even know, because the man was too much like him. He took his little sister and fled from their abusive, drunken father and prostitute mother, took the first job he could find and cheapest apartment he could afford and proceeded to raise Orihime, then three years of age, all by himself. And if the good-hearted young lady that Orihime turned out to be was any indication, he did a damn fine job.

Ichigo was pretty damn sure that if he was placed in the same situation as Sora Inoue, he would have done the exact same thing.

Then he couldn't help but feel for the kindred soul, he had died and left behind his sister, unable to protect her any longer, and if Ichigo had been in the same situation, he would have wanted someone else to take his position and take care of his little sister.

Ichigo didn't even need to think about what he wanted to do then, he just stood up from where he and the two girls were sitting at, walked to the portrait of one Sora Inoue, placed on the little shrine where Orihime prayed for her brother every single day, bowed to the portrait and spoke "Sora-san! You don't need to worry anymore! From now on, I will take care of Orihime! You can rest easy knowing that although I'll never replace you, I will do all in my power to protect Inoue from now on!"

Tatsuki was astonished, yet she was smiling by the end of Ichigo's declaration. She didn't know why she was surprised anymore, Ichigo was, after all, a guardian. She got up and bowed next to Ichigo "So will I, Sora-san! I will make sure Orihime-chan is safe from now, and will forever be at her side as her best friend as long as she takes me!"

Orihime was in tears by the end of it all, and all she could was walk over and hug both her best friend and the self-proclaimed protector as she cried in happiness

* * *

><p>Ichigo decided that since skipping school was most definitely out of the question, he would stop his training in Hadō, as he felt himself proficient enough in the few spells he had learned, he'd keep focusing on the Healing Arts, as he didn't want to risk hurting someone he loved while healing them.<p>

His Hadō time would now be spent meditating; trying to reach into his own soul, looking for what he was sure was in there.

It was five months later when, during one of his sessions, he felt more than heard the voice reaching out for him.

"_Ichigo.__"_

It was a faint whisper, with no discernible tone, no detectable pitch to discern a gender, but it was there, and Ichigo was all too eager to answer back.

"_That __is __indeed, __my __name, __pleased __to __meet __you. __What__'__s __your __name?__"_

"_I__… __I __don__'__t __know. __Do __I __have __a __name?__"_

"_You__'__re __the __one __supposed __to __tell __me __that, __you __know.__"_

"_I__…"_

The voice fell silent for a second, and Ichigo could now feel it with more clarity, as if its presence had now become more real than the whisper he heard before.

"_I __see, __but __how __is __a __new born __supposed __to __know __its __own __name? __All __an __infant __can __do __is __wait __for __guidance, __but __that__'__s __not __possible __in __my __case, __as __I __am __stuck __with __you.__"_

Did… Did a fragment of his own soul just call him insufficient? He wasn't sure what he was supposed to feel then, well, he could settle on insulted, but he was leaning more towards horrified, since this was pretty much a part of himself calling him inadequate.

"_Now __you__'__re __just __going __on __a __tangent, __I __meant __to __say __that __I __only __know __as __much __as __you __do, __since __I __haven__'__t __had __time __to __truly __analyze __my __own __existence.__"_

Oh. Okay, he could live with that.

…

What now? What do you talk to yourself about anyways? That sounded like the most pointless conversation ever.

"_I__'__ll __eventually __create __my __own __ego, __I __am, __in __fact , __well __on __my __way __to __do __just __that, __I __wouldn__'__t __be __able __to __tell __you __whether I'm __a __man __or __woman __though, __not __without __first __gaining __a __physical __form. __As __for __my __name, __well, __it__'__s __actually __right __here.__"_

"_So __what __is __it?__"_

"_I __have __no __idea.__"_

Ichigo vehemently refused to admit to himself that the first word that came to mind was a mixture of 'what' and 'blurb'.

"_It__'__s __useless __to __lie __to __yourself, __you __know.__"_

"_Won__'__t __stop __me __from __trying. __And __just __what __do __you __mean __you __have __no __idea? __You __have __your __name __right __there!__"_

"_No, __I __don__'__t.__"_

"_Will __you __just __stop __that?__"_

"_Stop __what?__"_

"_That, __where __you __just __keep __giving __me __half __the __answer __and __set __me __up __for __the __next __question, __it__'__s __annoying __and __I __don__'__t __like __it.__"_

"_You __like __doing __it __all __the __time.__"_

"_You__'__re __now __implying __that __I __like __bothering __myself, __and __I __can __think __of __several __dozen __things __that __are __just __wrong __about __that.__"_

"_Off __the __top __of __your __head? __Impressive.__"_

"_You __knew __that __already.__"_

"_Yes.__"_

…

"_Just__… __just __answer __the __question, __please.__"_

"_My __name __is, __to __put __it __bluntly, __being __held __hostage __by __your __soul. __Even __though __it __acknowledges __me, __it __refuses __to __tell __me __what __I __am __without __first __becoming __something __worth __naming.__"_

"_S__o __basically, __until __you __get __an __actual __form, __you __don__'__t __get __a __name?__"_

"_Pretty __much, __yeah.__"_

"_I__'__ll __just __call __you __Sword, __how__'__s __that?__"_

"_Good __enough, __I __guess.__"_

"_Cool.__"_

"_Yeah.__"_

…

"_Say, __how __do __you __think __I__'__d __look __with __long __hair?__"_

* * *

><p>Ichigo resumed his Hadō training the day after finally commuting with his sword, even if it wasn't a sword… yet.<p>

Sword could analyze things just as fast as Ichigo could, and eventually developed its own personality and quirks, which made it a perfect sounding board for Ichigo's ideas.

This helped a lot in his training, as he now had someone who could confirm the stupidity of most of what he tried. Of course, Ichigo knew when he was about to do something stupid, but having someone else tell him so helped, too.

It was still not quite enough to stop him from trying, though.

"_You __can__'__t __fly, __Ichigo.__"_

"_You __can__'__t __phase __through __wall__s, __Ichigo.__"_

"_You __can__'__t __read __minds, __Ichigo.__"_

"_You __can__'__t __use __the __Force __to __trick __people __into __buying __you __things, __Ichigo. __The __Force __doesn__'__t __even __exist.__"_

"_You __can__'__t __stay __up __all __night __today, __you __have __exams __coming __up __soon __and __you __have __to __be __on __your __best.__"_

The disembodied, genderless voice could be quite the nagging mother-hen sometimes, but Ichigo would not have it any other way.

The first time Ichigo felt a Hollow, it was on his way back home a year after meeting Sword.

He wasn't quite sure what the presence coupled with the empty feeling that came from a couple of miles away was, but he was sure it would be a chance to test his abilities.

So he ran, and halfway remembered he could use Shunpō to get there faster.

"_Moron.__"_

"_Shut __up.__"_

Then he saw it, humanoid body, about five times an adult person's size, red and black, short legs that seemed more fitted to jump around than walk, with two fingers on each foot, it's arms were long enough to reach the floor and had hands with sharp-looking claws instead of fingers, it had that mask, the Mask that all hollows have, and this one seemed to have its mouth permanently open, with a huge tongue reaching nearly four feet down coming out of it, it seemed to be sniffing the air before Ichigo got into its field of view, and then it focused entirely on him.

"**Interesting, ****that ****there ****would ****be ****a ****human ****child ****with ****such ****a ****strong ****Spiritual ****Energy ****in ****this ****little ****town.****"**

Ichigo raised an eyebrow, the creature was apparently capable of sniffing his Reiryoku, and used said sense of smell to find its prey, and he had read that Hollows could detect Spiritual Energies to feed on, but he didn't know they actually smelled them. Or was it just this one Hollow that did it that way?

"**It ****must ****be ****my ****lucky ****day****! ****The ****boy ****just ****wandered ****in ****here! ****Right ****into ****my ****grasp!****"**

"You talk too much."

"**What?****"**

"Why is it always the deaf ones? I said you talk too much."

"**You ****can ****see ****me? ****Well, ****that****'****s ****a ****surprise! ****No ****human ****should ****be ****able ****to ****do ****that, ****yet ****here ****you ****are.****"**

"So you thought you were talking to yourself? That's a sign of mental instability, you know."

Ichigo heard a snort coming from Sword _"__Yeah __yeah, __I__'__m __not __one __to __talk.__"_

"**It ****doesn****'****t ****make ****any ****difference! ****I****'****ll ****devour ****your ****soul ****and ****add ****your ****power ****to ****my ****own!****"**

The Hollow then leaped at the boy, opening its huge maw and intending to devour Ichigo, and the ground beneath him, in one huge bite.

It only succeeded in half its endeavor.

"For those strong-looking legs of yours, you're pretty slow."

The Hollow turned around while spitting a mouthful of dirt and gravel, and looked at the kid who was now standing where the Hollow used to be.

"This has already gone on long enough, I trained to end these fights fast, and so, Hadō #4: Byakurai!" Ichigo pointed his right hand's index and middle fingers directly at the face of the Hollow, which howled in pain as white lightning struck its mask.

It was clearly not enough, Ichigo noted, as the Hollow's mask had yet to break entirely, even if it was damaged, so he followed it with a Shunpō to put himself in front and above of the Hollow's face, where he now threw a quick three punches, the last one strongest of them all, all aimed at the fissure that the pale lightning had left in the creature's mask.

The creature gave out another howl as its mask, and the head behind it, crumbled beneath the strength of Ichigo's combo.

"**S-Shinigami?****" **Was the last thing the creature said, in a voice showing surprise and slight fear, before it fell apart completely.

Kurosaki Ichigo stood before the place where the Hollow had been standing moments before it was destroyed. His mind in turmoil, as the implications of what he just did struck him.

"_I __destroyed __that __Hollow, __Sword.__"_

"…_Yes.__"_

"_Destroyed, __Sword, __not __purified, __destroyed __its __soul __and __any __other __souls __that __it __may __have __consumed.__"_

"…"

"_Sword, __how __am __I __supposed __to __fight __an __enemy __I__'__m __supposed __to __actually __save __if __I __don__'__t __have __the __Zanpakutō__'__s __ability __to __purify __souls?__" _He was growing desperate, suddenly, all he had trained for became useless, and everything he had worked so hard for disappeared before his eyes.

"… _There __could __be __a __way.__"_

Ichigo held his breath, and waited for Sword to elaborate, it was ten seconds, then twenty, and then, genderless laughter.

"_You__'__re __an __asshole.__"_

"_I __just __love __riling __you __up, __Ichigo. __You __make __it __so __easy __sometimes.__"_

"_Just __tell __me __already!__"_

"_The __power __you __need, __I __have __it, __we __just __need __to __figure __out __a __way __for __me __to __give __it __to __you __without __having __to __go __through __the __whole __giving __me __a __form __thing, __though __if __we __could __get __to __that, __I__'__d __be __thankful.__"_

"_Don__'__t __worry, __you__'__ll __have __a __form, __I __swear. __But __we __need __a __more __immediate __solution, __we __have __no __guarantees __that __what __happened __today __won__'__t __repeat __itself __before __we __have __time __to __make __you __into __an __actual __Zanpakut_ō_"_

"_I __am __a __Zanpakutō.__"_

"_You __know __exactly __what __I __mean, __you __nimrod.__"_

"_Let__'__s __go __home, __we__'__ll __meditate __on __that __there, __it__'__s __getting __pretty __late.__"_

Following Sword's advice, he headed back home and brainstormed harder than he ever had before, this was now an all or nothing situation, everything he was now, everything he hoped to be, would hinge on this moment.

"_You__'__re __quite __a __dramatic __kid, __aren__'__t __you?__"_

"_I__'__m __not.__"_

"_You __even __grew __your __hair __to __look __more __like __an __epic __hero, __what__'__s __next, __a __bandanna __and __a __white __armour?__"_

"…"

"_Oh __god, __you __were __planning __on __that __weren__'__t __you?__"_

"_Start __thinking __of __a __solution __already!__"_

"_I __already __found __one.__"_

"_I __want __to __say __I __hate __you, __I __really __want __to, __but __the __implications __of __me __hating __myself __terrify __me __too __much __to __do __it.__"_

"_So __we __need __a __medium.__"_

"_Like__… '__I __can __see __your __future__' __kind __of __medium __or__ '__I __can __see __dead __people__' __kind?__"_

"_A __medium __to __channel __my __power __through, __you __moron, __I __could __just __try __to __give __you __my __power __directly, __but __that __would __be __too __taxing __for __me, __it__'__s __a __miracle __I __can __even __exist __as __I __am, __I__'__d __rather __not __risk __my __feeble __existence __doing __something __foolhardy.__"_

"_We __could __use __Ofuda, __channel __your __power __throu__gh __them, __throw __it __at __a __dying __hollow, __and __purify __its __soul.__"_

"_That__'__s__… __that__'__s __actually __a __good __idea, __but __I __won__'__t __be __able __to __channel __my __power __through __more __than __one __item, __and __Ofuda __are __absurdly __fragile. __I __also __can__'__t __shake __the __feeling __that __you __got __this __from __a __manga.__"_

Ichigo refused to acknowledge the whole manga thing (it was true), so he started to wrack his brain thinking about just what he could use to channel his power through.

"_Think, __Ichigo. __It __has __to __be __durable, __small, __practical __and __preferably __something __you __can __throw.__"_

"_Don__'__t __forget __cool __and __original.__"_

"_Yes, __strawberry, __cool __and __original.__"_

"_Did __you __just __mock __both __my __name __and __my __hair __at __the __same __time?__"_

"_I __don__'__t __know, __did __I?__"_

"_I__'__m __just __saying __this __because __you __could __end __up __having __the __same __hair, __and __odds __are __you __will, __being __a __part __of __me __and __everything, __and __then __I__'__ll __make __you __think __back __on __this __and __mock __you __endlessly __about __it.__"_

…

"_Oh __god.__"_

* * *

><p>The idea they finally came up with, was a metallic, card-shaped weapon, with the words 'Torn' and 'Card' written on either side.<p>

"_I __don__'__t __understand __the __name.__"_

"_Torn __Card __sounds __pretty __cool.__"_

"_Can __you __even __accurately __throw __a __card?__"_

And so the next couple of weeks were spent practicing how to accurately hit anything from a reasonable distance, he made sure to train in a different backyard each day though, he didn't want to make a mess of his own home, after all.

"_You__'__re __a __little __bit __of __a __jerk.__"_

"_Whatever.__"_

"_I __like __you.__"_

The time to test the Torn Card came sooner than expected, as apparently someone spread the word that a Hollow had been killed by a Spiritually Strong being in Karakura town, and other Hollows came along to feast on a snack they didn't actually think could kill them.

Ichigo disposed of them quickly enough, and each of them were properly purified by the Torn Card, and for the first time since he taught his little sisters to do well, everything, he felt an immense sense of accomplishment.

* * *

><p>We skip forward a few years, a couple of days after Ichigo's sisters turned eleven years old, and fifteen-year-old Kurosaki Ichigo just could not believe his horrid luck.<p>

"_I __can__'__t __believe __how __horrid __my __luck __is.__"_

Yeah.

"_Stop __running __and __start __thinking, __use __the __area __to __your __advantage, __you __know __it __better __than __those __Hollows. __Running __will __just __tire __you __out __faster.__"_

These weren't your run-of-the-mill Hollows, of which he could eliminate half a dozen without much trouble, these monsters apparently knew someone strong was around the place, and came with a group of ten, stronger than usual Hollows.

Ichigo could outrun them all any time of the day, but he worried what they would do if he just left them to their own business, so he just led them on while thinking just what the hell he could do to take them out without getting himself killed first.

He turned a corner, and headed in the direction of an abandoned warehouse, it used to belong to a construction company that left town because there just wasn't enough business.

"_If __they __had __waited __a __couple __of __years, __they__'__d __have __more __business __than __anyone, __what __with __Hollows __constantly __messing __up __the __place. __Gas __explosions __my __ass.__"_

"_Do __you __even __have __an __ass?__"_

"_Think, __you __moron! __We __can__'__t __die __as __we __are, __we __still __have __much __left __to __do.__"_

"_Right.__"_

As soon as he entered the warehouse, he jumped behind the farthest crates from the entrance and hid in the shadows, breathing deeply and focusing on hiding his presence. He had only just recently managed to turn off the eternally open faucet that his body was when it came to Reiatsu, it helped when sneaking up on Hollows, and as he had read, he was less likely to have weird stuff happening to people around him if they were affected by his presence. He could swear Tatsuki could see ghosts, or at least feel them, and Ichigo wasn't sure if he wanted to keep her away from the crazy world he lived in, or help her along so that's he could be better prepared in case of anything happening.

The Hollows came into the warehouse, completely tearing apart it's heavy, bulky metallic door, started sniffing around, around the middle of the place.

This was exactly what he needed.

"Hadō #33: Sōkatsui!"

He went without the incantation because he wanted to catch them off guard, so his spell was weaker than it would have normally been.

That did not in any way, shape, or form, mean that it was weak.

An enormous ball of condensed blue fire and destruction crashed down into the whole area that the Hollows were at, and Ichigo didn't even wait for the smoke to settle down to jump into the middle of the fray and start throwing the Torn Card to purify the horribly mauled Hollows.

"_I __feel __bad, __I __can __actually __make __them __look __uglier.__"_

He finished the last of them by jumping at it as it tried to crawl out of the warehouse.

"_That__'__s __all __nine __of __them.__"_

He dusted his pants and walked out of the warehouse wondering just how late he was-

"_Wait, __nine?__"_

He first heard the sound of slicing flesh, then saw the spurt of blood, then noticed the scythe-like blade coming out of the left side of his stomach.

The pain registered last.

He bit back a pained scream as he looked back at the mantis-like Hollow that was apparently smart enough to wait for Ichigo to come out. It looked like it was about to gloat, perhaps going on a rant about how he was smarter than the rest, and how he would feast on his Reiatsu.

Ichigo had heard it all too many times before, and the blade currently piercing him just added to his fury.

He jumped ahead, painfully taking the scythe blade out of his stomach, holding his middle section as his life fluid painted the ground under his feet. He looked up to the eyes of the beast, and the beast itself only knew two things from that moment on.

Fear like no Hollow had ever felt before, and horrible, excruciating pain as Ichigo flash stepped around it and with a mighty yank, pulled its arm off its socket.

Ichigo examined the bladed arm for a second, then used it to cut in half the Hollow in front of him, then, with one last swing, cut in half the Hollow's mask as its top half fell, separated from its legs.

He almost didn't think to use the Torn Card, but hey, he may be angry as all hells, but it was his job.

For good measure, he jumped at the falling Hollow and punched it's face in as he held the Torn Card in his fist, and the Hollow could do nothing else than disappear as it was purified.

Adrenaline rush dying, Ichigo fell to his knee, holding his badly bleeding torso.

"_You __got __careless.__"_

"_No __shit.__"_

"_Start __healing, __moron, __this __would __be __a __shitty __way __to __die.__"_

Ichigo agreed wholeheartedly and started trying to heal himself, something he knew he wouldn't be able to accomplish, at least not entirely, but he could at least stop the internal bleeding and slow down the blood loss until he actually healed himself properly.

"_I__'__ll __have __to __snea__k __back __home __again. __Grab __some __bandages, __patch __myself __up __and __listen __to __dad __go __on __about __how __it __is __sacrilege __to __miss __dinner __time __in __the __Kurosaki __household, __all __while __in __horrible __pain. __I __love __my __life.__"_

"_It__'__s __your __entire __fault.__"_

"_Fuck __you.__"_

He picked himself up, and feeling safe enough to do Shunpō without leaving a mean streak of blood behind, he went back home and did exactly as he planned.

That night, as he lay in bed recovering both his depleted Reiatsu and his health, he felt a strange presence sneaking into his room.

Tonight, once again, everything would change.

* * *

><p>Aaaaaand that's a wrap. So what do you think? It's probably a bit longish for a prologue, but I wanted to introduce you to this Ichigo in one act, and the ideas to develop his character into the one I envisioned for this fic just kept coming.<p>

I'm surprised I'm actually writing anything, I usually get a truckload of ideas but I never get anything done, but this one just seemed to scream at me, it threatened to drive me absolutely friggin' crazy unless I typed it down and published it. (It probably did)

Don't expect all chapters to be equally as long as this one, while I do write a lot, I'll sometimes feel it's the right moment to end a chapter, so I'll do just that.

So leave me a review or whatever, if you managed to get through all fifteen-friggin-kay words.

- Flameal out.


	2. Chapter one  Our damsel in distress!

Disclaimer: Someone once threw a water balloon filled with Bleach at me, it ruined my clothes. Does that count? No? Maeh, whatever.

EDIT: Chapter edited and fixed as of the 12/16/12 update. Probably missed stuff, looking for a beta reader.

This chapter is brought to you by my amazing ability to be selectively blind!

The First Guardian

Chapter one: Ladies and gentlemen, our damsel in distress!

Ichigo felt the unknown presence first, it was hard not to, it was like feeling himself outside of his body, yet not entirely similar.

He sat up on his bed, wincing as his wound reminded him that he wasn't entirely healthy, au contraire, he felt very sick, probably burning up, and as weak as a child.

He kept his senses trained on the approaching presence, forgetting to hide his own at the same time; he was in too much pain to give a damn at this moment.

Sword was strangely silent the whole time.

Then the presence stopped, seemingly outside of the wall of his room, as if waiting for something, this was only for a couple of seconds before the presence _moved_ through the wall, and he did no longer need to stretch his senses to see what, or rather who, it was.

It was, surprisingly, a girl, seemingly about his age, with a petite figure, black hair and a face that managed to somehow look pretty while remaining resolutely serious. The girl stepped into his room, she was wearing what Ichigo recognized from the descriptions he had read as a Shinigami attire, complete with a sword tied to her obi sash.

The girl then started looking around his room, as if feeling for something, and muttered something he couldn't quite make out.

"Hey, you, the intruder." He didn't feel particularly welcoming right now, whether it was because of the fact that the girl came into his room entirely uninvited or that he was still in horrible pain he wasn't quite sure.

The girl completely ignored him, as if she didn't hear him and instead kept muttering while apparently trying to feel for something.

Ichigo _now_ felt particularly offended, he wanted to get up and put a hand on her shoulder, or talk directly to her ear just to get her attention, but he didn't feel like straining too much so he just sat up on the side of his bed, stretched his right leg just a bit, then with careful aim and with considerate restraint on his strength, he kicked the girl's ass.

The girl fell forward, landing squarely on her face, sprawled on the floor of his room, and she sat and turned around quickly with a look of utmost surprise on her face.

"Y-you can see me? And beyond that, you kicked me?" The girl spoke, further demonstrating her surprise. Ichigo decided he liked her voice.

"Yes, I can see you, sorry about the kick, but I was trying to get your attention and you ignored me completely. Very rude, if you ask me." Ichigo spoke with a raised eyebrow and a look of mild amusement, he made to get up and help the girl get back to her feet when she suddenly did it herself and got all over his face.

"You're a human, you don't seem strange, you're as normal as it gets. How can you see me? You must have a high Spiritual Energy if you can see me. Can you see other ghosts too?"

Ichigo was, once again, amused, this girl just kept talking and shooting questions about the situation, he decided he would try to enjoy the moment as much as he could.

"Yes, I've been able to see ghosts my whole life."

"Amazing, do you know what I am?"

"_I do, in fact, but let's play with you for a little bit."_

"You are a…" The girl's face became more curious, and she started to get closer to him to hear his answer "… very cute girl."

She nearly fell on her face when heard that, instead, she sputtered and got all red in the face as she tried to come up with an answer to that.

"_I haven't had so much fun in months. Wish I could laugh out loud without hurting, though."_

"I am a Shinigami, my job is to…" She went on to describe, in a very abridged manner, things that Ichigo probably knew better than her about. Still, he humored her, as she seemed to enjoy explaining things, as evidenced by the sketchbook and crayons she produced from _somewhere_ in her Shinigami uniform, and proceeded to explain the basics of Shinigami, Plus souls, and Hollows.

The best part? All the characters drawn were bunnies, cute little white bunnies; she drew the prettiest Hollow that Ichigo had ever seen.

"_Can I keep her?"_

He nodded as he analyzed the situation, of all places a Shinigami, even better, this petite, amusing, and pretty Shinigami ended up in the bedroom of probably the only Pureblood around.

"_Either this is a huge-ass coincidence, or something's up."_

Sword, once again, remained silent, but before he could wonder or ask the other part of him what was up, he felt another presence.

Or rather, a bunch of presences.

He interrupted the girl mid-speech as she was about to ask if he got it all, grabbed her small – and light figure, and jumped out the window.

It was an entirely reasonable idea, but his knee-jerk reaction to danger did not take into account his wound, so when he landed, it took every single ounce of his willpower not to show any pain.

The girl in his arms started flailing about, so he set her down before she could make his wound get worse, and looked in the direction of the disturbance he felt. It was too close, far closer than he had ever allowed a Hollow get to his home.

His father had left earlier that night, something about an emergency appointment and said he probably would be back in the morning.

His sisters, however, were still in there, and he found the fact that the Hollows were as close as they were to be unacceptable.

"Hey, what's the big idea?" The girl looked like she wanted to hit him, which wasn't something Ichigo particularly wanted at that moment.

"Can't you feel them? They're getting close; I can't let them get this close."

"What're you talking about-" Then Rukia felt it, the pressure of a Hollow, no, Hollows, approaching their position.

"_How did he feel them before I did?"_ She didn't have much time to ponder that as the Hollows came into view, and she sprang into action.

She jumped the distance between herself and the first Hollow, and with a swift draw, managed to slice its mask off.

Ichigo was feeling it, the excitement, this was the first time he saw a Shinigami in action, with their sword no less! He wanted to join in and help, but he decided he should watch and learn whatever he could about, and from her.

"Bakudō #4: Hainawa!" The girl yelled as she pointed her hand at the closest Hollow, and it suddenly and its arms entangled by ropes of light. She then moved to another Hollow while the second one was incapacitated, and disposed of it just was quickly as the first one.

By the time the one she had bound released itself, she had already felled two more.

Ichigo couldn't keep watching however, as a group managed to flank them and moved closer, too damn _close_ to the house, and his sisters.

So he moved, as fast as his wounded, tired and feverish body allowed him to intercept the attacking group, he dodged a strike from one of them, moved under the clumsy claw strike of another one, and finally got to the front and between the Hollows and the house.

His senses were already failing him, as he was unable to notice the Hollow jumping at him with its jaws wide open and ready to bite.

He registered the blood, the jaws, but the pain never came, unlike with the incident earlier that day.

In of him, and between the jaws of the monster, was the Shinigami girl, who had just taken the attack in order to keep him safe.

Ichigo moved, he moved _fast_, his screaming body be damned, he grabbed the girl from Hollows maw and shot a wide wave of lightning from his right hand, a combination of the pale lightning and something else, not properly done but served the purpose throwing all the Hollows several yards away.

He suddenly felt his body and his tiredness catch up and fell to the ground in a sitting position with the girl on his lap, so he quickly put her against the wall of his home and checked her injuries.

The girl wasn't quite sure what was going on, but the orange-haired boy had an abnormally high Spiritual Energy, and she knew of one last move they could try in order to come out victorious.

"Hey" Ichigo looked up from her wounded body to her face, and then she saw it, she didn't need to ask more, his eyes conveyed everything she needed to know about the boy in order to trust him.

"My sword - put it through your heart, I can give you a portion of my power, you're in better condition than I am to fight, and it's our only chance." She spoke in the tired voice of the badly wounded, but she tried to give him an encouraging smile.

Ichigo saw the chance for what it was, and quickly aimed the sword she was holding towards his heart.

"Kurosaki Ichigo" He spoke as he gave her a nod to signal he was ready.

"Kuchiki Rukia" The girl answered with her own name before thrusting her blade forward to initiate what she knew was a wild gamble.

She expected to feel a bit drained, Reiatsu-wise; she was near the limits of her power, well rested and ready, but her body was the one thing that failed due to the damage she received.

She did not expect to have all of her Reiatsu drained, and completely lose her powers.

She did not have even a second to ponder the situation, as she saw something that took the breath away from her.

* * *

><p>"<em>Where am I?"<em> Ichigo wondered as he stood up from his prone position, he looked around; he seemed to be in a rooftop.

"_You've been here before."_ A distinctly male voice spoke, in a smooth, kind baritone, from seemingly everywhere around him.

"… _I have, haven't I? This is my inner world, it just never took on a form like this, and it's actually the first time it takes on any form… This is the true form of the place where I found you, isn't that right?"_ Ichigo spoke to the air, smiling slightly as he realized the situation.

"_Always quick of mind, aren't you, Ichigo?"_ The voice now spoke from directly behind him, and Ichigo decided to throw all preamble and building up to the wind and turned around faster than any person with a weak stomach should.

Before him stood a man, slightly older than Ichigo, with a dark, tattered (or so it seemed, the way its form shifted around the man) coat, long, wavy black hair that looked ridiculously classy for how messy it was, sunglasses adorned the young man's face, sporting a smile – a proud one, perhaps?

"_So you finally took form, eh, Sword? No, I guess I can't call you that anymore."_

"_You can call me whatever you want, you've certainly earned that privilege, so long as I get to call you moron."_

"_You didn't change at all, did you?"_

"_Sorry to disappoint, but no."_

"_So, what am I supposed to call you now?"_

…

The silence stretched for half a minute, and then Ichigo narrowed his eyes at the man before him.

"_What is it now?"_

"_I was trying to come up with something witty or wise, give you a philosophical talk that would end with you coming up with a life-changing epiphany that would make you worthy of knowing my name."_

"_Wait, I'm not worthy of knowing your name? Now that's some bull-"_

"_You are worthy, you know your purpose, you know why you will wield me, and what to do with my power, but I still wanted my dramatic speech followed by an equally dramatic moment."_

"_Why?"_

"_It would be amusing."_

"_Now you're just being an asshole."_

"_There you go with the name-calling; I guess you really don't want to know my name."_ With that, the man shook his head in exasperation and turned to walk to the boarder of the rooftop, seemingly intent to leave.

"_Bullshit, I'm calling your bluff right now. You know as much as I do that you want nothing more right now than howl your name to the winds, you're anxious, you can't wait to tell me, you're just playing the part of an asshole to piss me off."_

The older guy sighed, turned around, this time shaking his head in real exasperation "_I forget that you and I were initially the very same, very well, if you must take all the fun out of it, my name is…"_

* * *

><p>Ichigo opened his eyes and immediately spun around, swung his right arm in an arc, slicing at the foe that was about to jump him, he turned to the right, and the next foe was immediately cut in half, the following four fell even faster, and to the untrained eye, in one move.<p>

Kuchiki Rukia's eyes weren't untrained, she knew what had just happened, what bothered her was that even though she knew Ichigo had used Shunpō to eliminate in one step all of the Hollows that were left, even though she knew exactly how he most have done it, she still couldn't _see_ it.

Ichigo finally stood before her once more, he was wearing the typical Shinigami garb, except his seemed to be missing its right sleeve, and then she looked at what he held in his right hand.

That had to be the biggest sword she had ever seen.

It was a double-edged sword, about six feet in length from hilt to its point, the guard wasn't so much a guard, it was just a wide square of black steel ornate with gray shapes that connected the pommel to the enormous blade. And Ichigo held the behemoth as if it was lighter than the air around it.

He smiled at her, and bent down to help her stand up, her black garments had become white, a sign, he recalled, that she had lost her powers. To his eyes, this girl had now become his responsibility; she had just given him her powers, and took a big hit for him. So, she would now be under his protection, there were other things to consider, Kuchiki Rukia had broken a couple of laws just now, granted, she could be exonerated if circumstances were taken into account, but Ichigo was not about to put his fate on his possible opponent's mercy.

He'd probably face more Shinigami, and the law of the Seireitei, if things didn't go as smoothly as they should. He'd have to get stronger, a lot stronger, if he wanted to protect the girl he now owed so much to, and he was perfectly okay with that.

She was also a very pretty girl, but that had nothing to do with his decision, not at all.

For a second he thought he heard a snort, but dismissed it as his own imagination.

He noticed the girl wince as she tried to stand, and he realized that she was still wounded.

"Wait, don't stand just yet" He told her, and the girl wasn't quite sure what he was planning, until he sat down next to her and pulled her onto his lap.

"W-what do you think you're d-" She felt it then, and looked down; the boy had a hand under her white kimono, just above her breast.

"I hope you don't mind, but I have to keep my hand as close to the wounds as possible for this to work properly, I'll be respectful of your modesty, right now, I'm your healer." Ichigo spoke in a soothing tone, as he then moved his hand from above her breast to behind her shoulder, lowering the girl's Kimono to show the full shoulder as he did so.

Rukia didn't know what to feel at the moment, she had felt healing Kidō before, so she knew this was healing Kidō, but just how the hell did this human boy even know what Kidō was?

"I haven't told you everything or anything at all, for that matter, you just kept on talking and talking and I didn't get the chance to get a word in, we'll talk later, I promise, but first I have to finish fixing you up and running damage control around here." Ichigo told her when he saw her confused look

He kept at it for a few minutes, it was actually a lot harder than he made it seem like to heal her, the limit of Reiatsu her body could take was drastically reduced to that of a normal human, and Ichigo just had his Reiatsu skyrocket to levels he didn't even think existed, so it took every ounce of control he had earned over years of practice on fortunate (or unfortunate) 'volunteers', to heal the girl properly.

Once he finished up, he covered her shoulder once again "And that's that, it should be as good as new after a couple days' rest, just make sure not to stress yourself too much during that period unless you want it to open up again, and then I won't be so nice about it." Ichigo told her, finishing with a joking tone.

Rukia had heard a similar speech about half a dozen times before.

From the fourth division healers.

From the fourth division _Shinigami._

How did he do this? How did he know how to do this? Once again, her questions were interrupted by the increasingly mysterious young man.

"We have the neighbors of two houses, there and there, who just witnessed part of it all, and we have to stick to protocol, don't we? I assume you have a memory modification device with you?" Rukia, once more, looked at him with wide eyes and nodded with a dumbfounded look. "Good, take it out and come with me, I'd rather you use it, I've never actually seen one of those things."

So they did just that, they went into the homes of the people who had seen the fight, modified their memories, and then looked around to see if any noticeable damage was done to the street. Once they verified everything looked alright, Ichigo picked up his body (that felt strange), and invited the girl into his house, and up to his room.

* * *

><p>Rukia spoke first.<p>

"You lied to me."

"Huh? I don't think I did enough talking to manage a lie."

"You told me you didn't know what I was."

"No, I told you that you were a very cute girl, I didn't lie to you."

Three, two, one… RED. Rukia's face once more heated up when his words sunk in, and Ichigo did not stop the chuckle that came out this time.

"Stop laughing!"

"I'm sorry; you just look even cuter that way, all red and flustered."

"Just – Argh, who are you, no, what are you? Just how did you-"

"Calm down." Ichigo held a hand up "One question at a time, take a deep breath, relax, we have all night, and all your questions will be answered as straight as I can."

Rukia did visibly seem to calm down, took a few deep breaths, and started.

"Who are you?"

"I am Kurosaki Ichigo, fifteen years old, High School student and I work part-time in this house's clinic."

Okay, that was a good answer, and he could tell he wasn't trying to hide anything; she just had to ask the right questions.

"What are you?"

"A Shinigami."

"You weren't when I first met you a while ago."

"I wasn't then, or at least, not in your definition of the word."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that, before you gave me the means to awaken to my true powers, I had the potential to be a full-fledged Shinigami, even if I was a living, breathing, human."

"Humans aren't like that."

"That's right, they aren't."

"Are you saying you're not human?"

"Not entirely, I guess."

"So what were you before I gave you my powers?"

"A Pureblood."

Rukia's brain came to a screeching halt, that term rose a few alarms in her brain, she had heard it before, she knew it meant something important, but she just could not come recall it right then.

"Pureblood?"

"The son or daughter of a Shinigami parent, born with Shinigami powers."

"Your parents are Shinigami? But how can you be human, then."

"Only one of my parents is Shinigami."

Rukia put some thought into that, and came to the obvious conclusion.

"But that's illegal! A Shinigami cannot have that sort of relationship with a human! Seireitei would have caught any Shinigami doing that and had them exec-"

"I am well aware of the fate that my father would face if Seireitei brought him to justice."

Once again, Rukia was embarrassed, she spoke without thinking.

"Sorry."

"No need to be."

"So your father, huh? I'm guessing there must be some kind of story behind that."

"There is, want to hear it?"

"Not if you don't want to tell it."

"Au contraire, I am quite proud of the tale."

"Alright then."

"My father… my father was a very strong Shinigami who was sent on a seemingly dangerous mission to eliminate some unnaturally strong Hollows that had suddenly sprung in this town, Karakura.

"He came into town, and as soon as he reached one mile into it, he felt the presence of the Hollows."

"What did he do?"

"What any Shinigami with his mission would do, he went after them. Moved as fast as he could, and soon spotted them huddled around something, he jumped in the middle of them and made quick work of the group with just a few moves."

"He must have been very strong."

"He was, anyways, his whole mission came to a catastrophically abrupt halt when he saw what the Hollows had been huddling around. It was a woman, the most beautiful woman he had ever laid his eyes upon, and the woman just looked up at him, smiled as she stood up on shaky knees, and asked him if he had been hurt.

My father was taken aback tremendously, this woman who had been about to get eaten by a platoon of unnaturally powerful Hollows, had just asked her savior if he was alright.

To him - and perhaps for her as well, it was love at first sight."

Rukia was looking at him with focused eyes, completely enraptured by the tale, so he continued.

"It only took about two minutes for my father to decide on a course of action, he took some Hollow bait that he had acquired from… a vendor of Shinigami goods in Karakura, and lured as many Hollows with it as he could. I am not quite sure of how he pulled it off, but he managed to fake his own death. He got himself a Reiatsu-suppressing gigai so that Seireitei would never be able to track him, and married Masaki, my mother, a year later."

Rukia now felt even worse for condemning the man that had done all that out of love, and now understood the tone of pride that Ichigo used with her.

"Your father is an amazing man."

"I know."

A comfortable silence settled around them, while Ichigo seemed to ponder something, he then spoke again.

"Don't say a word about this to anyone, not even to my father."

"Why not him?"

"He doesn't know that I know all of this."

"What? How is that possible? If he didn't tell you, then how did you know-" Ichigo gave her that look again, and she made a conscious effort to calm down.

"Explain."

"I assume my father has his own reasons, he will tell when he feels its right, and if he doesn't, then I can respect that too, I'm sure he has good intentions."

Rukia couldn't help but smile, it seemed it wasn't just the father that had a good heart, and the son also was very mature for his age and with a good head over his shoulders.

"How did you find out?"

"My mother, Masaki, was murdered by a Hollow six years ago."

Rukia was taken aback, the reason a man did all he did and the woman that raised such a formidable son was dead?

"My father tried to pass it off as an accident, as if she had drowned trying to save me from drowning myself. But I had seen and heard the beast, it had fooled me, using bait to make me think someone in the river was in danger, and when I got close, well, I'm not exactly sure what happened, but my mother saw it all and somehow got between me and the Hollow, so it took her instead.

"Later, I heard my father speak to other people I didn't know, I now assume he met them while he was still a Shinigami, but they spoke many terms that I had never heard before, like 'Hollow' and 'Shinigami'. I later searched my father's things to find more information, and found his old Shinigami Academy books, as well scrolls and books on several subjects, such as history and the Seireitei science, I committed all the academy material and the rest of the scrolls and books to memory, I have a perfect memory recall, anything I learn just once, I memorize and can recall without missing any detail."

"That's how you know all those things! But it doesn't explain how you could do healing Kidō, you also used a form of Shunpō I don't even think some seated officers can see, and before I gave you my powers, I could swear I saw you use Hadō."

"With all the knowledge I acquired, I trained myself hard, everyday from then on, on all the subjects, even as a human, I could use Shunpō, some Hadō, healing Kidō, and I am pretty sure I mastered Hakuda."

"That's… that's just – I don't believe it! Why did you even go through that? You were just a kid!"

"I have things I must protect."

That last sentence, spoken with as much calm as he had used throughout the entire conversation, held the fiercest backing of will Rukia had ever felt, it was almost as if he had spoken an absolute, like saying that the time flows or that there is day and night.

"Protect?"

"I wish to protect everyone that needs it, with my own hands, and for that, I have to strong enough, I cannot afford to fail again, never again."

She saw how his fists tightened, and she couldn't help but won-

Ah, his mother.

Ichigo had blamed himself for the death of Masaki, and he considers it his first failure to protect someone he loved, which is why he now swears to himself that he will never again fail, no matter the cost.

Rukia now respected the boy- no, man in front of her. He had gone through great lengths just so he could safeguard what he felt was important. She had to suppress a laugh; she now realized what he was named after, not the fruit, not the numbers, but the First Guardian.

"It's late, we only have a few hours until the morning, we still have much more to discuss, but that can wait until we wake, I'll let you take my bed, I'll lie down on the floor – don't worry, I don't mind at all."

"Thanks, Kurosaki-san."

"Ugh, hell no, that's my father, call me Ichigo."

"Very well, as long as you call me Rukia."

"Alright, go to bed Rukia, I'll just get back to my body and get some sheets to get more comfortable."

Rukia nodded and then took Ichigo's bed, she hadn't realized how tired she really was, and fell asleep in seconds.

Ichigo couldn't help but smile when he saw her like that. This girl had just come into his life and changed it drastically, hopefully for the better, at great cost to her, yet she didn't seem to be angry about the whole thing, he'd have expected someone in her position to demand that he help them.

He was indebted to her, so he would protect her no matter what.

"_Indebted, my newly-formed ass! You've been acting like a – like a teenager since you saw her, just admit it, you like the girl. You better start making some moves, Ichigo, you have a good chance, you're a good-looking fellow, and-"_

"_You talk too damn much."_

Ichigo got back into his own body, it was much like entering a suit that covered your whole frame, and immediately noticed something amiss.

"_I could swear I had an enormous wound both in my back and my stomach."_

"_Oh, that, well, your will to protect, which was the most overwhelming emotion coursing through you as I was taking form, gave me, your gallant, amazing, incredible Zanpakutō, the ability of extremely fast tissue regeneration."_

"_How come?"_

"_Well, the way your heart sees it, you will protect even at the cost of hurting yourself badly, so, in its own twisted, backwards logic, came to the conclusion that the more damage you could take before you fell, the more you could protect, so there you go."_

"_... You mean-"_

"_Yes, apparently your soul desired the most generic hero power ever. Or maybe you're a bit of a masochist?"_

"_I'm… I'm not sure what to feel about that. Whatever, can you wake me up in four hours? I'd rather be awake so that dad doesn't think about dive-bombing through my window and into my bed, boy would that be a nasty situation."_

A chuckle was his answer, so he took it as an affirmative and closed his eyes, sleep only took one minute to claim him.

Or it would have, if he hadn't felt yet another presence just outside his house.

"_I can't get a break, can't I?"_

"_Not all days can be good. Keep your presence hidden and look out the window._

Ichgo managed to do the first - he was already doing it, the second was slightly trickier, seeing as the only window in his room was set to the wall his bed was against, and the bed was currently occupied by a certain girl.

He looked outside, while making sure not to move much, and saw a figure, a man, it seemed, wearing green clothes, geta sandals and a bucket hat-

"_Wait a second... I know this guy. He was at mom's funeral, an old friend of dad's, if I'm correct."_

"_Are you going to talk to him?"_

_..._

Ichigo kept his eyes and his senses trained on the man who was seemingly looking for something outside of his house, then he came to a decision.

"_No."_

"_Why not?"_

"_This man is part of my father's past, something he hasn't talked to me about. If I go out there right now, there will be questions that I wouldn't be able to answer without revealing what I know. I feel bad enough about not telling dad everything I'm up to, I'd rather not make it worse by creating more secrets unless it's inevitable."_

"_I understand where you're coming from, yes. But this man, as you heard, is Urahara Kisuke, who used to help your father study, if the numerous notes in your father's textbooks are any indication. He could help us in the coming storm. You do know that the worse is yet to come, right?"_

"_... Yeah. I'll think about it later. Right now, we should focus on our plans. I'm not going to be able to sleep any time soon anyways."_

...

"_So all I get is regeneration? Don't get me wrong, I think it's cool, but I can't help but find it underwhelming."_

"_Does it make you feel better to know that I call it the 'Restoration Factor'?"_

"_Not really, no."_

"_Well, there's always our other passive ability."_

"_I have another ability?"_

"_Oh, I didn't tell you? Oh man are you going to flip out."_

"_You're setting me up for disappointment, aren't you? I've done this before, you'll make it look like it's a big-"_

"_Now you're talking too much."_

"_Fuck you."_

"_I call it 'Number Zero'."_

"_And why's that?"_

"_Well, it's extremely fitting, and Zero is a pretty cool name for anything."_

"_It's moments like this I remember you were born from my soul."_

"_I like you too, moron."_

"_So... what does it do?"_

"_Nope, not this time. You're figuring this one out on your own, I've already given you too much. Heroes of the brand you fancy usually get their abilities in the last moment."_

"_You don't give a damn about any of that! You're doing this just to piss me off!"_

"_Maybe."_

"_It wasn't a question you asshole!"_

"_Let's focus on what matters now! A load of things are about to come, and we need to start planning ahead otherwise we'll be caught with our pants down."_

"_I can't plan this by myself, it affects her, too."_

"_I know. And to think all it took was a goddamn Shinigami girl falling practically onto your lap to get your hormones running."_

"_You're not going to let that go, are you?"_

* * *

><p>And – cut!<p>

This one could have gone on for longer, but I felt this was a good point to end it. I was also a bit on the fence about posting it so soon after the first one, but one particular reviewer pointed out it was a bit of a dick-move to give you people only a prologue and leave you starving for the actual story.

Some of you may be wondering what this Ichigo looks like, since I've previously mentioned that he got the idea to grow his hair.

Well, he did, think of his current haircut as an Ichigo-orange version of Kratos Aurion's haircut. If you don't know him, he's from the Tales of Symphonia videogame for the Nintendo GameCube, look him up if you need to. It seems a little bit over the top, but it was done through a careful elimination process that ultimately yielded those results.

Ichigo's Zanpakutō: Appearance-wise, it's Tensa Zangetsu, except I gave its younger persona the older's sunglasses. Name and ability-wise, well, it's different, and the changes are justified in that this Ichigo is more in tune with his own Zanpakutō than the canon one. Perhaps more than any other Shinigami, as evidenced by the fact that he does not need to use Jinzen, the proper method of meditation to converse with a Zanpakutō. So him and his Zanpakutō are way closer than in canon.

- Flameal out.


	3. Chapter two Enter the Shop Owner!

Disclaimer: I own half a dozen brown and gray shirts; they were white when I got them. You do the math.

EDIT: Chapter fixed and edited as of 12/16/12. Pretty sure I missed stuff. Should get a beta reader.

This chapter is brought to you by the droning voice of my International Law professor.

The First Guardian

Chapter two – Enter the Shop Owner

Morning came to Karakura town, and people arose in their homes blissfully unaware of what had happened the previous night, and for the occupants of the Kurosaki household, it was not any different.

Barring Kurosaki Ichigo, of course.

"_I'm telling you, Voltron was the last thing even closely resembling anything good in that genre, you stupid sword."_

"_And I'm telling you, that Mighty Morphin' did pretty damn good, considering what came later."_

The night of brainstorming resulted to be mostly fruitless, as any attempt at serious conversation quickly devolved into pop culture references and all manner of innuendo-laden insults.

"_The girl, Ichigo, there is a girl sleeping in your room, and you're not doing absolutely anything about it."_

"_I am. I'm being a gentleman."_

"_Listen, kid… Is the problem the fact that she's a girl? Because if there's something you need to tell me – it's okay, I want you to know I'd be perfectly fine with the idea, and wouldn't think any less of you."_

"_You would know if I needed to."_

"_Yeah."_

"_Then why are you doing this to me?"_

"_I find you amusing."_

"_You're the worst Zanpakutō ever, if I ever get the chance to switch for anything else, I will."_

"_And I will move heaven and earth to stop that from happening."_

"…_Oh? Why?"_

"_See the answer to your previous question."_

"Argh." That last exasperated sound was heard in the physical world and Ichigo finally noticed the first rays of dawn coming through his window, so he got off his makeshift futon and moved out of his room.

First, he needed to check on his father, and tie up the old man to whatever superficies were around his specific location, he needed to make sure he would not be caught talking to a Shinigami in his bedroom. Most of all, he needed to make sure he would _not_ get caught talking to a _girl_ in his room, made worse by the fact that she had obviously spent the night in there.

"_Most guys would brag endlessly about it, you know. I'm not sure if the idea of you disregarding the rep that situations such as this would get you appeals to me."_

"_I'm not most guys, and dad would become the most insufferable being this side of the solar system. How does that appeal to you?"_

"_About as much as being hit in the face by projectile diarrhea. Go on."_

He found Isshin asleep on the couch in the middle of the living room; it was quite obvious by the way he was lying on his face that he had just got home, perhaps just an hour ago.

"_Didn't hear him arrive."_

"_Don't underestimate the ninja skills of a man in danger of waking up Karin Kurosaki before her alarm did."_

Ichigo could not suppress a wince. That had only happened twice before. The first time, Isshin got his front teeth caved in by the handle of a vacuum cleaner. The second time, Ichigo got off with just a soul-chilling glare.

"_It pays to be idolized."_

"_I guess. If it saves you from having your ass kicked by a little girl."_

Ichigo made quick work of grabbing some of the strings used to tie up the living room's curtains and using them to tie his father's right foot to a coat hanger. He didn't feel the sound of it falling would be heard from his room so he took a ceramic plate from the kitchen and put it on top of it.

"_Creative."_

He didn't need any safety measures for his sisters; they always knocked and waited for him to let them into his room. So he made his way back to where the petite Shinigami was still practically in a coma.

"_Last chance, Ichigo."_

He didn't even feel that deserved an answer, so he just shook her shoulder while calling her name.

"Who?" The girl spoke while blinking the sleep away, she looked as if she was trying (and failing) to suppress a yawn.

"Kurosaki Ichigo, we're in my room, and you're obviously tired and perhaps a little sore as a result of the stressful activities we voluntarily participated in last night. You were fantastic before I took the lead, by the way."

"_I give it a six out of ten."_

"What?" That woke her up real fast, and she looked around wildly before her eyes finally focused on Ichigo.

"Oh." She remembered now, long-haired guy kicked her, a bunch of stronger-than-normal Hollows, pain, and probably the most amazing thing she had ever seen.

"Good morning." She answered, her serious face back on, and Ichigo still couldn't wrap his head around how anyone could look so good while scowling (anyone not named Kurosaki Ichigo, anyways.)

"How's your wound?" Ichigo asked "It doesn't hurt, seems like you did a good job." The girl answered, to which Ichigo just nodded, and then motioned for her to follow him out of his room.

"Where are we going?"

"I suppose you'll want to wash up, right? Last night wasn't exactly a tea ceremony."

Rukia nodded at that, and then entered a room Ichigo had pointed at.

"That's the bathroom, towels are in there, leave your clothes in the basket next to the door, I'll get you a yukata from my little sister Karin, she won't miss it. As for underwear, I'll have to get you some of mine, since both my sisters apparently put some kind of arcane spell in their underwear cabinet, so they'll know right away if someone's so much as looks inside."

Rukia nodded once again, and walked into the room. Ichigo turned to leave after she closed the door behind her, but before he reached his sister's room, remembered something about Soul Society being ridiculously behind the times and turned back around.

"The shower is the separate cubicle to your left, to make the water come out, turn the knobs sticking from the wall counter-clockwise, the one to the left is the hot water and the one to the right is cold, if you want the right temperature, turn them both equally." With that, he went back to what he had to do, sneak into Yuzu and Karin's room without being detected. It was a near-suicide mission and there were no second chances, it was do or die.

When Rukia came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her body, she found a baby blue yukata with a pink flower motif on Ichigo's bed.

Oh, and a rather pale-looking Ichigo as well.

At her inquisitive look, he just assured her he was fine and left the room to let her dress in peace.

"_You suck."_

"_Shut it, pervert."_

"_You need to learn Zanjutsu, desperately so."_

"_What's with the urgent tone?"_

"_I didn't want to say anything last night, seeing as your first moment of awesome as a swordsman, hell, you could have probably heard a cool theme song playing in the background. But your skills while wielding me left me kind of embarrassed, I'm only glad the only possible witness was incapable of following your movements, otherwise I'm pretty sure she'd agree."_

"_I think I handled myself pretty well."_

"_You just moved really fast and swung me like a caveman does a bone. No class or style whatsoever."_

"_Dad's notes didn't have much on Zanjutsu…"_

"_Then it's a good thing you have a trained, not to mention naked, Shinigami girl in your room."_

"_Here we go again-"_

"_However, I don't think she'd be able to teach you more than the basics."_

"_And why's that? She moved pretty damn well last night."_

"_She was, she's no doubt an expert, though I think she's more of a Kidō specialist."_

"_Then what's the problem?"_

"_I take the form of a larger-than-decency sword, something completely different from wielding a Katana-styled blade."_

"_I can always change your size, I'm pretty sure you were that big only because I didn't expect the ridiculous amounts of Reiatsu I'd get from awakening."_

"_Yet I know you won't. You like big swords."_

"… _I like big swords."_

"_Which brings me to my next point: Being a bigger blade, the spirit particles that form me are spread over a larger area than they would be in a smaller one, which means I am actually weaker in density and sharpness-wise."_

"_You seemed strong enough."_

"_Against Hollows, yes."_

"… _But against a Shinigami blade, I'd probably lose pretty badly. And we're likely to face other Shinigami, if our feelings on the coming shit-storm are right."_

"_So…"_

"_I have to focus putting more Reiatsu on you form without making you any larger or smaller, keeping the spirit particles in check so that they won't explode on my face or fizzle out of existence."_

"_And Polly earns a cookie."_

"_Asshole."_

"_My next point is probably the most important, which is also part of the reason I don't think normal Zanjutsu will do."_

"_And that is…?"_

"_Your Shinigami uniform is missing its right sleeve."_

"_How does that affect my… Wait. That's a swordsman thing, swordsmen who mostly depend on one-handed styles used to cut the sleeve of their sword-arm so as to give it more freedom of movement."_

"_And the conclusion is…?"_

"… _I have to wield a six feet long behemoth using one hand?"_

"_For the most part, yes. But think about the benefits rather than the difficulty of the task."_

"_I'd uh… have a free arm?"_

"_Yes."_

"_And what do I do with it, get a shield?"_

"_Stop thinking manga and video games. Kidō arts, moron, you should be able __to cut your enemies in half while blowing up even more enemies with Hadō."_

"_My life is a lot easier when you're blunt."_

"_And let's not forget about the Torn Card."_

"_What with it? I don't think I'll need it anymore."_

"_You've been using it to fight for so long, saturating it with my power, that I wouldn't be surprised if its nature wasn't all that different from that of a Zanpakutō."_

"_Wait, hold it. What? Is it going to suddenly start talking inside of my head?"_

"_Hell no. If it did, I'd kill it with extreme prejudice. This is my space; I'm not sharing it with anyone else."_

"_Then what do you mean?"_

"_You could call it an anti-hollow weapon. Perhaps you could use it for Kidō, just keep it in your person at all times, up your only sleeve, that way, it could be a secondary or secret weapon."_

"_A trump card of sorts, huh? Sounds good."_

"_Never hurts to have an ace in the hole."_

…

"_Oh god, that must have been the most horrible set of puns ever said in succession."_

"_Let- let's just pretend this never happened."_

…

"_What's taking that girl so long?"_

Ichigo turned back towards the door, she was indeed taking a long time to get dressed, it was a simple yukata, and surely they had those in Soul Society?

"Rukia?" He called, when he didn't get an answer, he tried again, and once more he got no answer.

"I'm coming in." And he did, and there the girl was, dressed in his little sister's never-before-used yukata, sitting on his bed and seemingly engrossed on her sketchbook.

"Uh, Rukia?" Ichigo was only slightly confused "_Is she drawing bunnies again?"_ but mostly amused.

"_For someone who probably is a hell of a lot older than you are, she sure seems to be quite childish."_

"_I'm not bringing up her age in front of her."_

"_Why?"_

"_It's basic Girl 101, you don't ask a girl for her age, or weight, or number of drinks needed for a successful date-rape."_

"_You're a strange person."_

"_I'll tell you what's strange, there was no sketchbook in this room, and she left __all her clothes in the bathroom, so where the hell was she keeping it?"_

"_Do you believe in hammerspace?"_

"_No."_

"_Well, it's probably less disturbing if you do. I mean, your mother was capable of producing a large mallet seemingly out of nowhere. And since she obviously wasn't carrying it on her person, the only choice other than hammerspace is IN her person."_

"_You fucking asshole!"_

"_What?"_

"_You just implied that my mother kept a mallet in her-"_

"_Pay attention, she wants to show you something."_

And she did, she was holding the sketchbook towards him with a neutral expression on her face, so he took it and checked out just what she was doing.

_Name: Kuchiki Rukia_

_Age: 150_

_Profession: Shinigami._

_Squad: Thirteenth._

"Rukia, what is this?" Ichigo asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, last night, you told me a lot about yourself. It seemed only fair that I at least tell you a bit about me.

Ichigo could see the logic in that; it still didn't explain some of the content of her introduction letter.

_Area of expertise: Kidō._

_Current assignment: Karakura town patrol._

_Shinigami Academy grades:_

Wait, what?

"_Academy grades? Huh, they're better than my father's, I guess. But beating a slug in a salt-eating contest isn't exactly something to brag about. Excellent Kidō score, Zanjutsu is excellent as well, the rest are pretty darn good grades. Still, why is she showing me this much?"_

"_Are you going to be this kind of person, Ichigo?"_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_Oh dear god, you are. I can't believe this. I'm trapped in a typical Shōnen hero!"_

"_What."_

"_Powerful, passably handsome, strong set of morals, and completely clueless."_

"_Clueless?"_

"_She's trying to impress you, moron!"_

"_You're reading too much into it. And I'm more than passably handsome!"_

"Impressive. Your grades are pretty good." Ichigo said with an approving nod and a slight smile. And the girl _beamed_ at the praise.

"_Told you so."_

"_Anyone reacts well to praise."_

Ichigo ignored what seemed to be the sound of a head banging against a skyscraper's glass panels. "Your grades are actually a lot better than my father's."

Rukia now looked embarrassed "I- I'm sure that means nothing, I mean, your dad is probably a much stronger Shinigami! Grades don't mean that much anyway…" And now she looked a bit down. And Ichigo felt kind of bad.

"Oh no, your grades are something to be definitely proud of, I'm sure you worked your ass off for them."

She smiled again at that "But still, I don't think they matter that much in the long run. Some Shinigami improve a lot more than others once out of the academy."

"Well, yeah, I guess. Otherwise my father would have never made captain."

"_Absolutely beautiful bombshell placement! I give it 10 out of 10."_

Rukia found she was once again unable to keep her eyes from widening at yet another piece of information about the men of the Kurosaki family. It was years of practice at being a Kuchiki that kept her mouth from hanging wide open.

"_Oh, I know. Let's make it a drinking game, every time Kurosaki Ichigo leaves someone astonished, you drink a cup of sake!"_

"_I'm not old enough to drink."_

"_Don't think there's enough sake around, either."_

"Don't let that change your picture of him, though. Don't create any opinions until you actually meet him. The man is a goof, a complete spaz most of the time. A good father, but his spontaneous bouts of stupidity come far more often than his shows of wisdom."

"_There should be an entity in charge of throwing lightning at whoever put both 'Kurosaki Isshin' and 'Wisdom' in the same sentence."_

"_At least I'd start praying, for once."_

Rukia couldn't quite wrap her head around that, a Shinigami captain was the most respected figure of the Gotei 13, and although some of them were easily approachable, like her own captain, Ukitake Jūshirō, they all had a sort of legendary status, which gave them an impressive presence.

She decided she'd wait to meet the man before she formed an opinion, like Ichigo said. "_He's his son, so I guess he'd know better than me."_

"Alright, seeing as we're now done with proper introductions, we should start planning out our moves." Now Ichigo's face showed no amusement, he was totally serious, but Rukia had no idea what he was talking about.

"What do you mean 'planning our moves'? What is it you have in mind?"

Either the girl was playing dumb, or she had no clue of what had happened, or she just hasn't given it much thought. He was thinking it was the third, he had been mercilessly bombing her with the unexpected in the last twelve hours, and her mind probably hasn't caught up yet.

"You broke laws, Rukia."

At that, she had to wince. "_Of course! I gave my powers to a human! Well, not really…"_

"I don't know, Ichigo. You're not exactly human…"

"But there are no laws written for Purebloods, and I'm not sure I'm willing to bet everything on a potential enemy's mercy or reason."

Rukia had to raise an eyebrow at that "Potential enemy?"

"Well, yeah. The punishment for you breaking this particular law is death via Sōkyoku. There's too much at risk to just leave it all up to your possible condemners. What if we don't get to plead your case? What if they just act or for whatever reason the outcome is you on death row?"

Rukia could see where he was coming from, but there was still something off. "How is that your problem? You say it as if you'll fight whoever chooses to condemn me."

"I'll fight the whole damn Soul Society if I have to."

"_Quick, another shot!"_

Now _that_ made her lose control of her jaw. "What? Why? You only met me last night! Why would you risk your life for someone you just met?"

"Well, for starters, I owe you quite a lot. You helped me awaken to my true self; you gave me the power to defend my little sisters and my home. Furthermore, you took an attack that could have killed me without a second thought, and ended up badly hurt because of that. And that led to this situation."

"You're really one to feel guilty, aren't you? Well, stop! I did that of my own choice, I don't think you owe me anything at all. I release you from any debts you think you may have towards me."

"Very well. That still doesn't change anything."

"What? Why not?"

"My ultimate goal, Rukia, is to protect, to guard at the cost of my own life. And last night, I decided you're one of those things I should protect. So that's what I'll do, I'll protect you, at the cost of my own life if I must. Don't think you can talk me out of it, you can try to if it makes you feel better, though."

"_He's so annoyingly stubborn! He reminds me of…"_ Nostalgia, this man reminded her of someone she admired a long time ago "_He looks a lot like him, too. Come to think of it, if his hair was shorter I'd think Shiba Kaien had started to dye his hair!"_

"Besides, you helped me get my Zanpakutō a real form, asshole's been whining about it for years."

"_9 out of 10 for your cheek. And hey look, you get to drink another shot!"_

"You can communicate with your Zanpakutō? Already? But that takes years!"

"Took me about half a year, and back then he didn't even have a form, or a gender, or half the perverseness he has now. I think I liked him more back then, actually."

"When did you do this?"

"I was eleven, I think."

"_I hope they all have designated drivers."_

Would the surprises ever cease? Wait, what if – "Do you know his name?"

"Of course."

"What is it?"

"It's -" Ichigo seemed to think about something. "He doesn't want me to tell you."

"_Forget the designated drivers; I hope someone gets an ambulance."_

"What? Why not? And you just talked to him? You didn't even adopt a Jinzen position; you can't have gone to your inner world so fast!"

"Yes, I talked to him. No, I didn't go into my inner world. And he doesn't want me to tell you because he wants to keep it a secret form everyone until it's needed."

"Why's that?"

"He's a drama queen."

Rukia just had to laugh, it was so ridiculous, the whole situation and this – this! So she laughed out loud and without holding anything back.

"_She has a pretty laugh."_

"_No she doesn't."_

"_You're just mad she's laughing at your expense."_

"_Hmph."_

"_Real mature."_

Rukia recovered - her head now a lot clearer and in better condition to go on "How do you get to talk to him that way?"

"Well, I dunno. I and my Zanpakutō have always been pretty close. It was kind of weird at the beginning; we were practically the same person. That led to some pointless conversations."

"_All conversations with you are pointless."_

"_Hush, the grown-ups are talking."_

"I see." Kurosaki Ichigo was a strange phenomenon, something she was sure no one had ever seen before. She'd have to start taking things with a grain of salt.

She doubted she'd ever get used to it, though.

"I have to report back to Soul Society in three months, if I have recovered sufficiently by that time, then no one will find out about this."

"That's still a gamble with a lot at risk, Rukia."

She sighed, stubborn, alright.

"So what are you planning to do?"

"Well, first off, I have to get prepared, I have to train using my Shinigami powers, I can't be sure I won't end up blowing up a whole street with a small Hadō with my ridiculous Reiatsu. I have to learn Zanjutsu, I never had a sword before, and mine absolutely forbade me to train with any other sword before I got him. I have to get stronger, Rukia, especially if things will get as bad as I think they will."

"What're you talking about?"

"Your name is Kuchiki Rukia, Kuchiki. If I remember my history well, and I'm damn sure I do, that's a noble clan. So if your offense is registered, they'll send someone of a higher rank in the clan than you to fetch you on the idea that it's their honor at play. High clans have pretty strong Shinigami, and I'm sure any ranked above you is probably among the strongest."

Rukia was turning paler with every word, there was only one person she could think of that would be sent after her, and the idea scared her to no end.

"Nii-sama…"

"Who's that?"

"I think they, no, I know they would send Nii-sama, Kuchiki Byakuya, after me."

"Is he strong?"

"He's the 6th division captain."

"_Well, shit."_

A moment of uncomfortable, oppressive silence settled around them, with Rukia wondering just how she could ensure Ichigo wouldn't die, or how she'd manage to escape if it came to that, would she even want to do escape? She had to listen to her brother, he was the head of the clan, a captain, and the man who took her in and made her _someone_. But she didn't want to die. She was growing more desperate by the second.

Ichigo didn't even have to give it a second thought.

"I guess I'll just have to get stronger than I originally thought I'd have to."

And just like that, the pressure that had filled her head and the room around them completely vanished, and she could only blink at his simple solution. She couldn't just leave it at that, though.

"Are you crazy? He's a Shinigami captain, among the strongest of them all! There's no way you can get strong enough to fight him just like that! You'd need to achieve Bankai first!

"Then I'll get Bankai."

She should have argued that point more, but for a second there, perhaps because of the tone of his voice or the fierce look of his eyes were giving her, she actually believed it.

"Let's focus a bit more on the present. What are your plans, Rukia?"

"Well, first, I'd need a faux body to help restore my energy. The Human World lacks the spirit particle-enriched ambient of Soul Society, so I'd need to put my soul inside of a body so that it wouldn't be taxed by maintaining physical form. It would surely help in my recovery."

"And how are you planning to get one?"

"I- I don't know."

Ichigo had to suppress a sigh; it seemed they only had one way out of it.

"I told you my dad knew a… supplier of Shinigami goods among other things, it's where he got his customized gigai."

"You know where it is?"

"I have an idea of the general area, I'm pretty sure we can go from there."

That seemed as sound a plan as any other.

* * *

><p>They arrived somewhere in downtown Karakura, not too far from the riverbank yet seemingly far from any big business center.<p>

"Are you sure it's around here?"

"I'm not, my dad sucks at writing down directions, but it's a start."

"So where do we start looking?"

"We don't."

"Huh?"

She got her answer right away, as Ichigo's Reiatsu flared and reached levels she wasn't quite ready to feel, it took all her willpower to manage to sit down rather than end on her knees.

Regardless of Kuchiki decorum, she still wasn't sure if she could actually believe what she was seeing.

"_We can start our own sake business! We'd be rich if we advertised the drinking game first!"_

In front of Rukia, Ichigo Kurosaki, still in his human body, was exuding a level of Reiatsu that was just a notch away from that of a captain.

"_And it keeps growing!"_

"_Here's another get-rich-quick scheme, we wrap the sake bottles in-"_

"My my, whatever would make you do that? Bring it down; shaking the earth can only damage the foundations of all the buildings around here."

Ichigo brought his Reiatsu back down to undetectable, and then turned around to see the man he was trying to bring out.

Green coat, geta sandals, cool bucket hat, pale blond hair, and the most intelligent eyes he had ever seen on a person.

"_Well, I guess something good can come out of this, after all."_

"Urahara Kisuke-san, right?" Ichigo spoke to the man, who he knew was actually surprised but didn't even show a little bit of it. "_Again, impressed."_

"How delightful! It seems I've earned myself a reputation! But I, however, can't say I know who you are, young man." The man said with the tone of a man who found it all hilarious, but Ichigo could tell he was pretty serious about it.

He could also tell he was lying.

"You know very well who I am, Urahara-san, you were at my mother's funeral, and you helped my idiot of a father a lot with his studies back in the academy."

Kisuke chuckled outwardly, though he wasn't quite sure what to make of the situation, this was entirely unexpected.

"Hmm, ha-ha!" Now he pulled out a fan, Ichigo was sure it was just for show, it was a cool morning, what he wasn't sure about is how he managed to pull off a fan-user look without looking slightly effeminate. "Very well then. Come with me to my shop, we can continue our talk there, as well as discuss what is it you need my services for."

Ichigo nodded, and finally turned to Rukia, who was by now recovered from the sudden burst of spirit pressure.

"Sorry, I should have warned you first."

Urahara was now speeding over rooftops, so Ichigo grabbed Rukia and followed suit.

* * *

><p>The shop was as out of the way as a shop could be; only someone who knew where it was could find it, even with the big 'Urahara's Shop' sign on the front.<p>

A red haired kid was sweeping the outside of the shop, he seemed to either be horribly constipated or as if he had just lost someone very dear to him.

To the broom he was using, if the obvious hate for it was any evidence.

"Jinta, we have customers! Go tell Ururu and have some tea, and perhaps-" He looked at Ichigo for confirmation; Ichigo actually got the message and pointedly looked at Rukia before nodding. "Some breakfast as well for the lady. We'll be at the tea room."

The kid, Jinta, grumbled and looked annoyed at the orders, but left to do as he was told.

With that, they walked into the shop; the first room seemed as innocent as any other shop, candy shop, to be precise, could be. Except for maybe a couple of boxes, but they looked as unassuming as anything could.

They kept walking until they reached some sliding doors, which Kisuke opened for them and led them in.

"You can put me down now, you know."

"Oh, sorry."

They sat on their knees (well, the girl and the man in the bucket hat did, Ichigo sat cross-legged and mentally dared anyone to make him do otherwise) around a tea table, they waited just a few seconds before the door they had just come in from opened again, and in came a girl who seemed to be slightly older than the red-haired kid from earlier, black hair with a purple tint tied in two pig-tails and a long lock of hair falling down the middle of her face.

"_How does she manage a blush while looking so sad?"_

"_It's like something out of an adult manga."_

"_Better question: How do I resist hugging her to death?"_

"I brought the tea, Urahara-san."

"_Oh for the love of- extremely shy, too?"_

"Oh, thank you Ururu! Such a good girl!"

The girl smiled happily at the praise, and Ichigo could tell that Rukia nearly jumped to hug the stuffing out of her. After she left, they were left in a strangely comfortable silence.

Urahara took a sip of his tea and then put the cup down "I have to say, I didn't think Isshin would tell you about his past, he'd told he never would."

Ichigo looked the man in the eyes "He didn't, but he kept several journals and academy books as well as other written material hidden in his room. You could say I stumbled upon them a few years ago, I've been… busy since then."

Urahara considered this, it seemed his old friend had kept some mementos from his past, not that he could blame him, he had done the same.

"I see… I assume me and my services were mentioned in some of those."

"My dad wrote down the story of how he met my mother, and wrote down what he probably believed were good directions."

Urahara snorted, and Ichigo could tell there was probably some story there, but that could wait for another time.

"Very well, tell me what is it you want from me."

"Rukia," He nodded towards the girl who was taking in the conversation, if the inquisitive look she had meant anything, she was actually analyzing body language as well as tone of voice "_It's a common practice in noble clans."_ She nodded back at him "needs a gigai, she's temporarily lost her powers and using one will help her regain them faster."

The man in the awesome hat now had a serious look on his face as he seemed to consider something, before looking at Ichigo with a smile "Well, tell you what, young man. I'll give you that gigai, free of charge. In exchange, however, I'd like to know the full story behind you and that girl."

Rukia looked at Ichigo at that, she had no problem telling him her story, short as it was, but Ichigo's tale was a longer, far more meaningful one, and she didn't know how he'd react to that.

Ichigo nodded slowly, before looking towards Rukia who once more nodded at him.

Rukia began her tale first, seeing as it was shorter and easier to explain, after she was done, Urahara seemed as if he hadn't much attention to anything except the parts where her impressions of Ichigo were concerned.

Then a small breakfast for her arrived, carried by the girl Rukia wanted to disguise as Chappy the Bunny and forever keep her as a hug doll.

Urahara listened more carefully to Ichigo, who, Rukia noted, spoke a very abridged version of what he had told her the previous night. He skipped over his motivations, some of his training, and most importantly, his link with his Zanpakutō.

"_I guess he doesn't feel comfortable enough telling that tale."_ Which actually made her feel funny inside, until she remembered it's probably because he felt indebted to her.

Urahara fell into another pensive stance when Ichigo finished his tale; he had also spoken Rukia's part of the story, except from his point of view, which Urahara found quite amusing, something he was sure Ichigo agreed to.

He opened his eyes "Very well, if Shinigami-san has finished with her breakfast, we can get her a faux body, as well as some supplies I'm sure you'll need."

"Like what?"

"Well, there's this stylish glove I'm sure I have on the lady's size, which can pull souls out of their bodies. You haven't given much thought as to how you'd get out of your body, have you?"

"… _Goddamn, Ichigo. He got us there."_

"Huh, true."

"I also have some Gikongan, I'll give you one for free, but any future purchases go at the regular price, so bring money next time! Ha-ha!"

* * *

><p>They were now outside the shop, Rukia seemed slightly uncomfortable in her gigai, though all Urahara said about it was "Don't worry! It's like a pair of new shoes, they'll stretch and fit you in better" they took his word for it, neither of them knew a damn about faux bodies.<p>

"Oh, I completely forgot! Be right back, I'll get you your Gikongan."

Urahara walked to the back of his shop, and was about to reach for a box placed in a high shelf when he stopped; he looked down to another box close to his feet. He reached down, and took out a soul candy tube with a duck head in it as a dispenser. He chuckled as he took out one Gikongan and looked at it "_Kurosaki Ichigo, you're a new player to this game, and yet so far I'm impressed. I'll deal you an unexpected card; let's see how you play it."_ He made his way out of the store and gave Ichigo his Gikongan.

As Ichigo and Rukia turned to leave, he couldn't resist saying "I have a last question, Ichigo, if you will."

Ichigo stopped and smiled, he was sure this was coming, he didn't bother turning around "Shoot."

"Why are you so distrustful towards me? I am an old friend of your father's, I am offering you my aid pretty much free of charge, and yet you trust the girl you carry far more than me, why?"

"Oh? Why do you say that? Maybe I do trust you."

Kisuke smiled behind his fan "Then why didn't you touch your tea?"

Ichigo laughed, and behind him, Kisuke joined him.

"I'll see you when I do, Hats-and-Clogs."

"_Interesting."_

"_Yeah, I'll enjoy doing business here."_

* * *

><p>And that's it for this chapter.<p>

I have to admit, I wasn't going to write this yet, but as I write it, I am sitting in front of a laptop in my classroom, listening to the most boring lecture ever.

His drone-like voice has been going at it for three hours now, and I still have to endure another forty minutes.

So far, Rukia has seemed entirely too different from her canon counterpart, I can explain that. You see, this particular Rukia has been caught off guard so many times in such a short time that it's taking her some time to wrap her head around it. But don't worry, she will, and the sometimes-appropriately-violent relationship she has with Ichigo in canon will shine through, though feelings will run deeper, respect will soar higher, and anyone playing my drinking game will pass out within 4k words.

Leave me your thoughts if you like; next chapter is bound to be out sooner, maybe.

- Flameal out.


	4. Chapter three Of School and Juice

Disclaimer: Kubo Tite owns Bleach; I'd try to wrestle it out of his hands, but I've watched enough movies to be afraid of picking a fight with an Asian person.

EDIT: Chapter edited and fixed as of the 12/16/12 update. Pretty sure I missed stuff, should get a beta reader.

This chapter is brought to you by rolling blackouts and third-world countries!

The First Guardian

Chapter three – School days and Juice boxes

"_She's taking too long."_ Ichigo Kurosaki was _not _a happy camper; he didn't like not knowing where someone he had sworn to look after was. It's the same reason he made sure to call Orihime and Tatsuki whenever he got home after school to make sure they got to their homes safely, it was the same reason he checked on Karin and Yuzu before he went to bed himself, and the same reason he felt like killing several million Hollows and a bear.

"_Why the bear, Ichigo?"_

"_Huh, see? Nobody cares about the Hollows."_

The object of his worries was none other than Kuchiki Rukia, a girl who had come into his life completely by accident and changed it forever.

She was currently away to 'take care of some things' that apparently needed 'a subtle woman's touch' and she didn't trust his 'brute man methods' to do it right, so she ignored all his protests and promptly left to whatever it is she wanted to do.

"_You worry too much."_

"_She's out there, in a town constantly attacked by Hollows, without any powers of her own."_

"_She's also a very experienced Shinigami, and she's self-sufficient enough to be sent on her own to watch over a whole town. Calm down, she'll be alright."_

"_How can you be so sure? What if she-"_

"_So I was thinking: I know I'm not human and probably don't change like you do, but do you think I could grow chest hair?"_

"_What."_

"_I mean, I'm not sure I'm pleased with how I look. I look pretty badass and everything but, I'm not sure I'm 'badass manly' so much as 'badass normal', you know."_

"Argh! Where is she?" This was said out loud and given emphasis by him sitting up in bed holding his forehead.

"Where is who?" Came the reply from-

From where?

"_Huh?"_

Ichigo turned from looking out from the window, and was greeted by possibly the most unexpected thing that had happened since, well, a Shinigami walked into his room, actually.

The object of his worries, one Kuchiki Rukia, was currently sitting there wearing what looked suspiciously like one of his sisters' pajamas, wearing a completely casual look as if everything was right in the world and he shouldn't be so surprised.

She was also in his closet, which is what got Ichigo's attention in the first place.

"… When did you get there?" To Ichigo's credit, he managed to keep his usual scowl even in surprise.

"About twenty minutes ago."

"You know what, wrong question. Why are you wearing my sisters' clothes? No, wait, I have a better one. Why are you in my closet?"

"Well, I felt it would be rude to keep you from your bed again, and this closet is actually quite comfortable. And perfect size too!"

"_I think a skyscraper just disappeared from in here. Ichigo, quick! Reboot your mind!"_

"I… I…" Ichigo sighed, there were several other questions he wanted to ask, but he was sure Rukia would answer them all in the same manner, and that could only lead to him losing his temper.

"What were you doing all day anyways?"

"Well, I figured I'd at least try to establish an identity so I could be around you, I mean, around Karakura town without people asking too many questions. So I wrote some papers, modified a few memories, and got myself enrolled in the same High School you're supposed to attend. You missed school today, Ichigo! You shouldn't be so irresponsible, think about your future, you could end-" It was with a lot of practice from listening to Tatsuki say the same thing over and over that he managed to tune her out from there.

"And why couldn't I do this with you?" He interrupted as politely as he could, though his annoyed tone couldn't be hidden behind jet engine's noise.

"For starters, you're not exactly subtle, sneaking around doesn't seem like it's your forte, what with your bright hair. I also don't think you should be trusted with a memory modification apparatus."

"_You know she's right, Ichigo. You would have probably ended up traveling to the past or something equally impossible."_

"Let's go back for a second, why did you feel it was necessary to enroll in High School, I mean, you're-" he was interrupted "_ABORT, ICHIGO, DON'T BRING UP HER AGE." _Came the unnaturally frantic voice_._ "… A Shinigami, wouldn't you have to come up with something, I don't know, more fitting?"

"… I wanted to be around you. I mean, you're a new Shinigami! So that means I have to make sure you do your job right! Am I right?" She started with a low tone and a frown, and ended sputtering like the school girl she's going to pretend to be.

"_She's flustered. Quick, use her words against her."_

"… _I kind of, uh, you know, don't want to."_

"_What?"_

"_I dunno why, really."_

"_Wuss."_

"Okay, I guess I can live with that, but now I'll have to give you some tips."

"Like what?"

"Like what to do and what not to do. I'll tell you a bit about my friends so you don't go there completely uninformed."

"What, you have secret salute I should know about?"

"Not really."

"_Well, I don't know. Keigo usually gets a mouthful of elbow, does that count?"_

"_Maybe."_

"Then what?"

"Let's start with Inoue Orihime…"

* * *

><p>It was a beautiful morning in Karakura town, and everywhere you could see young people in school uniforms heading out of their homes and bound for school. All of them with peace in their minds and content with their day so far.<p>

As usual, things in the Kurosaki household do not follow the norm.

"I can walk on my own, Ichigo!"

"We're late! We have to get there as quick as possible and you can't run fast enough!"

"_Feel her up while you're at it, champ."_

"_Shut the fuck up!"_

"I swear to the Spirit King, Ichigo. If you don't put me down right this instant, I'm going to punch your teeth in."

"You'll try, anyways."

"You're so-"

"We're here."

And they were. Rukia berated herself for being too distracted with the now-proven infuriating-as-all-hells-Kurosaki-freakin'-Ichigo to notice.

"Alright, we made good time; we can go quietly from here."

Rukia nodded, still with a scowl on her face, and walked alongside him through the school entrance.

"I know where your hands were, and I know where they are all the time. Next time, you'll lose them."

"I'm flattered you want to keep my hands to yourself."

She just couldn't win once! Just once! The redness in her neck was starting to creep up to her face and would have managed it if it wasn't for-

"KUROSAKI ICHIGO!"

For that.

An extremely irate girl with short hair was walking towards them as if she absolutely detested every bit of ground her feet touched, and Rukia could only hope to try looking as angry as the girl did at that moment.

"Yo, Tatsuki." Ichigo took great pride in being able to stop himself from sweating all sorts of fluids.

"Don't you 'Yo' me you orange-haired hero wannabe! You missed school yesterday! Again! This is only the second day you come to school this week, and it's a Friday!"

"Really?"

That got her going into another, perhaps worse, tirade on him being extremely irresponsible. Rukia was starting to feel uncomfortable for being ignored. She cleared her throat to get their attention, and Tatsuki stopped from trying (and failing) to punch Ichigo's eyes farther into his skull to look at the new girl.

"Who is this?" Rukia nearly flinched; Tatsuki still had the tone of an angry beast.

"Oh yeah, let me introduce you. Tatsuki, this is Kuchiki Rukia, she's new into town and just yesterday got enrolled into our school. Rukia, this is Arisawa Tatsuki, an old childhood friend of mine."

"Nice to meet you, Arisawa-san, it's good to see Ichigo has some responsible friends."

Ichigo didn't know what to wince at, the jab at his lack of concern for school, or the extremely sweet and out-of-character tone Rukia used.

Tatsuki looked Rukia over, and seemed to think about something for a little while, and then she schooled her features and returned the greeting.

"Likewise, but call me Tatsuki, Arisawa-san makes me want to punch someone."

This time Ichigo knew what he was wincing at.

"Of course, so long as you call me Rukia, Tatsuki-san."

"_I feel like I made a huge mistake."_

"_I feel like you made a huge mistake."_

"_I just said that."_

"_Oh? Sorry, couldn't hear you over the sound of the huge mistake you made."_

"ICHIIIIIIIGOOOOOOO!" Ichigo sighed; it almost caught him off guard this time.

Almost.

All of a sudden, the two newly-introduced girls saw the face of an extremely loud guy get filled with Ichigo's elbow; the guy then fell to the ground on his back.

"_This must be Asano Keigo" _Rukia mused, Ichigo had warned her about this guy in particular. More specifically, his over-the-top hyper-activity, his ridiculous penchant for drama, and the violence Ichigo felt necessary to use to deal with it. Ichigo assured her he was a stupidly good guy, though. "_If Kurosaki Ichigo was a TV show, this guy would be the comic relief."_

"You're being escorted by two beautiful young ladies, Ichigo! How dare you hog them all! Am I not your friend anymore, Ichigo? Do you hate me now?"

"Asano-san, stop making a scene." Spoke the voice of another guy behind Ichigo, short hair, and zipped-up school jacket. "_Then this is Kojima Mizuiro"_ Ichigo told her to keep her age a secret from him, as the guy apparently loved older women. And one as old as herself (Ichigo found out she has a heck of a throwing arm and deadly aim with a marker) that looked as good as she did (Ichigo named her reaction Rukia-red, and his Zanpakutō went on about getting a patent) was probably his ultimate wet dream. "_He's totally not my type, though."_ She somehow ignored the side-glance she gave Ichigo at that thought.

"Don't call me that! And how can you be so calm when Ichigo is practically hogging all the cute ladies in school!"

"_I wish you were more like Keigo."_

"_What, a moron?"_

"_You already are, but think about it. You would have slept with the entire female population of this school by now if you had half his motivation."_

"_I'm not a man-whore."_

"_A sword can dream."_

"What's next, Orihime-chan's gonna hang off his arm, too?"

"I think she already does that, Asano-san. Lower your voice already, people are staring."

"Good morning, Ichigo."

"_How did I not notice that wall standing there?" _Rukia was slightly disturbed, as a gigantic man she just noticed spoke from the side. "_This must be Yasutora Sado, or as Ichigo told me, Chad." _Ichigo said that if he ever needed someone to watch his back, his first choice would, without a doubt, be Chad. He was an extremely strong man of Mexican descent with wavy brown hair. He had a dangerous look about him, but Ichigo had assured her that he was actually a gentle giant. Ichigo told her he and Sado shared a bond 'forged through combat' and each had sworn to protect what the other would. "_They were branded as thugs by everyone else, but they had each other to rely on when it mattered." _Rukia asked about him apparently seeking fights with trouble-makers, he said that he needed to practice Hakuda, and there weren't always Hollows around.

"Umm, is everyone planning to form a singing group?" And now there was someone else next to Tatsuki, who was now slapping her forehead. It was a girl with long, burnt orange hair, tucked behind her ears with hairpins. "_And this is Inoue Orihime. Ichigo failed to mention she's quite… voluptuous."_ He had said that Orihime was an extremely naïve and sensitive girl, with a ludicrously good heart and a horrible cook "'_For the love of all that is edible, don't dare try her cooking.' Is what Ichigo said, I think" _he also said she was someone Ichigo had sworn to protect as well. She didn't give that last thing much thought the previous night, but looking at her now made her feel threatened for some reason.

"Everyone's being so loud, are you already starting practice? I'm not sure I can keep up with Tatsuki-chan, though, she has a lovely singing voice."

"_Oh yeah, she has a wandering mind."_

"Everyone, I'd like you to meet Kuchiki Rukia, she's a new student, so treat her well."

"Ano, Kurosaki-Kun, how did you meet Kuchiki-san?"

Rukia got a strange smile on her face "Oh it's quite a story! I was walking back home after finishing the paperwork to get enrolled at school, when suddenly half a dozen men with knives attacked me, demanding I give them all my money and my purity!" She began with a dramatic tone, and everyone gasped.

"But then there he was, some kid with long, orange hair. He asked them 'just what do you think you're doing?' and started beating all of the thugs into submission. He was quite heroic."

"_Holy shit, Ichigo. She's a freakin' genius."_

"… _What."_

"_She diverted their attention to the new school girl and put in the spotlight."_

"… _Son of a-"_

"Wow, Kurosaki-kun! Are you going to get a cape? I know someone with a good hand at making those, he's actually in our class-" Then he bell was heard, and they all had to hurry into their classrooms.

None noticed the angry, long-haired guy with spectacles observing them from the other end of the hall.

* * *

><p>It was lunch time, and Keigo, Mizuiro, and surprisingly Chad, managed to drag Ichigo up to the school rooftop, apparently to 'stop him from escaping school'. Ichigo felt offended, he had rarely ditched school the days he actually bothered to show up.<p>

"_That load of shit is so big I can feel it up to my knees."_

"_What does a guy have to do to get some support?"_

Everyone else who considered themselves a friend of Ichigo followed them, and now they were sitting in separate group, one of girls, one of guys.

"So, Ichigo, what's up with you and the new girl?" Keigo sounded strangely serious, for once.

"What do you mean?" Ichigo knew what he meant, but he wanted this conversation to go elsewhere before Keigo bellowed something the girls might hear.

"You know what I mean! And don't try to change the subject! Be thankful I'm at least asking, because I kind of like-" Anything else he could have said suddenly vanished from existence the moment he felt the fear of god caused by Ichigo's freight-train stopping glare.

Ichigo was going to say something to properly kick the idea out of Keigo's head, but then he felt someone tapping his shoulder.

"Ichigo."

"Rukia?"

"Can I talk to you for a second?"

"Okay."

"Alone." She seemed suddenly self-conscious, and she was hiding something behind her back.

Ichigo realized this was probably something serious, perhaps regarding the situation of both Shinigami and their jobs, so he nodded and excused himself. They both walked far from both groups, and as soon as they were far enough he motioned Rukia to start talking.

"What is it?"

Rukia hesitated for a moment, and then showed him what he was keeping behind her back.

Ichigo analyzed the object, was this something she should have showed him earlier? Something that could change ever-

"_It's a juice box, moron."_

"… This is a juice box."

Rukia nodded, "Orihime-san got me one, and she and Tatsuki were apparently drinking from them."

"…And?"

"Well, I…" Ichigo would have commented on how cute she looked, but she was already embarrassed enough "I don't know how to use it."

...

"Oh." Ichigo smiled, he couldn't help it. He had forgotten just where she came from, she had just fit in so well with his friends and in school that he forgot she came from a place in which science took strange turns towards improving.

"Here," he said calmly, and took the juice box from her to show her how to introduce the little straw it came with, then told her how to use it to drink the juice.

Rukia did, then smiled as if she had just found the uranium she needed for her world-domination plans.

"_Your analogies, Ichigo. They are horribly disturbing."_

"_Your face is horribly disturbing."_

"Thank you, Ichigo." Ichigo took a moment to assess if his heart was going to stop beating again, and then nodded and they both walked back to their respective groups. Keigo was apparently having another fit of crazy due to Ichigo and Rukia being alone for so long.

For some reason, Ichigo didn't feel annoyed about it.

* * *

><p>The school day was over, and the group of friends were slowly saying their good-byes as they separated and went their own ways back home.<p>

"You have good friends, Ichigo."

"I have to admit, most of them are a huge pain in the ass, but I don't think I'd have it any other way."

"Still, you should not skip school as often as you do. Have you ever given any real thought to your future?" She wasn't ranting this time, which made Ichigo take note of her actual concern and think things through.

"_My future, huh?"_ He really didn't know. His days were filled with fighting Hollows and improving his abilities to do the same.

"_Do I even fit in normal society?"_

His Zanpakutō was very silent through it all.

"Kurosaki Ichigo." A familiar, yet unknown voice spoke from in front of both Ichigo and Rukia, who turned their attention from each other back to the road in front of them to regard the new arrival.

It was guy wearing their school uniform, with long hair in bangs falling down either side of his face and spectacles.

"_I've seen this guy elsewhere."_

"_He's in the same classroom as you, moron."_

"Who are you?" Ichigo didn't like the vibes he was getting from this guy.

"I'm Ishida Uryū, and I have been watching you for quite some time, Kurosaki Ichigo."

"_Oh dear god, you have a stalker. A male one."_

Ichigo raised an eyebrow "Yeah? Whatever would you do that for?"

"Don't play dumb with me; I've been aware of what you do since I met you. Your Reiatsu was always all over the place until recently, because you learned to hide it well. But now it has changed, and I can't say it's for the better."

Now Ichigo got closer to Rukia, more to protect her if anything happened than because she was putting on her glove. She apparently didn't like the feeling this guy gave off, either.

"What is it you want?" Rukia spoke, her tone no longer the one she used at school, this was her business voice, and Ichigo really liked it.

"I'm not talking to you, Shinigami."

"I don't like your tone, Quincy."

Now it was Ishida's turn to be surprised.

"I should have noticed you before, but you hide your presence completely, both your Reiatsu and your physical presence are hard to find." Ichigo's tone was serious, and now he was between the Quincy and Shinigami girl.

"How do you know what I am?"

"I know who your father is and what he is, so I connected the dots."

Ishida had been furious when he saw Ichigo that morning, and now that he mentioned his father, well, it took all his being not to attack Ichigo right then.

"I guess it doesn't matter." Now he was holding his right hand in front of him.

Ichigo reacted and looked quickly towards Rukia who nodded and pulled Ichigo's Shinigami form from his body before catching it.

"_Damn it, he's heavy, I should have brought that Gikongan."_

A bow made entirely out of shining blue spirit particles had appeared in Ishida's hands, and he was prepared to fire an arrow at Ichigo.

Ichigo was a perceptive guy in battle, and he could tell that Ishida's anger didn't come from the bloody history he had read from Isshin's history books.

"_It feels more personal."_

"_Did you kill his dog practicing healing Kidō with it or something?"_

Without warning, the Quincy fired and Ichigo managed to take cover behind his huge Zanpakutō. When he looked around it, the Quincy was now a safer distance away, preparing to fire again.

"_He's fast!"_

Ishida couldn't help himself, he was incredibly angry at Kurosaki Ichigo. He had been a human that somehow managed to get a hold of all the Spiritual Energy his body produced, and then used it to fight Hollows, somehow finding a way to purify their souls without having a Zanpakutō. He saw him pushing himself harder to become stronger to better exterminate Hollows. He was someone Uryū could actually come to admire. He only wished Kurosaki Ichigo had been older, and then maybe, just maybe, he'd have been around when his grandfather died.

And then he became, of all things, a Shinigami.

The ones who had murdered his people.

The ones that failed to save his grandfather.

He fired more arrows, making Ichigo grab Rukia and put her somewhere safe.

Ishida thought that perhaps his anger should be directed towards the Shinigami girl he was sure was the cause of the change in Kurosaki Ichigo. But he wanted to deliver swift punishment to Ichigo for letting it happen.

"What the hell is your problem? You could have hurt her, asshole!"

"She's a Shinigami, hurting her would have been a plus in my book."

Ichigo now put Rukia down; there was something he needed to say.

"Rukia, get behind me and don't move."

Rukia didn't like feeling useless, but the tone of his voice would have made her obey even if she was at full power.

Ishida fired again, but this time Ichigo didn't even bother using his sword, he batted away the Quincy arrows with his left hand as if they were merely flies.

"Speak your piece, Quincy, before you no longer have a chance to."

Once again, Ishida was taken aback; this had just practically shown him that his main attack didn't even tickle him, so he got angrier, something out of character for him.

"You- you became a Shinigami! That girl was the one who did it! Shinigami destroyed my people! Shinigami are just a bunch of murderers who sit in their high chairs while looking down on us people who need to fight for our own survival. And whenever we fought, you people condemned us! And worse of all, when you're actually needed to do your jobs, you're completely useless!"

"_Ah, so he's lost someone due to the Shinigami"_ It was rather obvious now, and Ichigo would have used words to appease the other man, but didn't. He needed the other guy to learn this lesson well, and as he was, he could only get even more angry.

He sighed "Very well." Then he disappeared.

Ishida knew exactly where he was, the fist in his gut made it painfully obvious, and he double over and fell on his knees while trying to get back his breath like a drowning man.

"You're obviously very upset; I can tell you're not thinking clearly. You don't look like a dumb guy so I'm sure if you have time to think things through you'll come at me with the right intentions." Then he kneeled down to Ishida's level and introduced him to the same look that nearly made Keigo's heart fail "However, know that if you come at me with the same intentions as you did today, I will have no choice but to destroy you."

Ishida knew he meant that, but all wind had left his sails – and his lungs and all he could do was sit up to recover.

Ichigo nodded and turned around, he didn't care about giving his back to the Quincy, and he knew he wouldn't attack him. Not right now, anyways.

"Are you okay?" He asked Rukia, he knew she wasn't hurt, but he had missed the Quincy's presence for all this time and there were now things he had to think about.

"_It's taken me this long to realize it."_

Ichigo didn't trust just anyone, as he proved when facing the sly shop keeper, but he always thought that as long as he made sure not to give away much of himself, he had the best hand in the table. But now this Quincy shows up, someone he didn't even know was in the game.

"_What else have I missed?"_ He wouldn't be able to sleep tonight.

"I'm fine, you… _you protected me…_ you did good enough, I guess." She didn't voice the part where he protected her, but gave him an approving nod.

Ichigo nodded back and got back inside of his body, he got up and didn't take notice to Rukia's lack of protest as he picked her up and started running towards the Kurosaki house.

They left behind a Quincy with too many things in his mind, among them a plan that Kurosaki Ichigo would surely hate.

"_Let's see what makes you tick, Kurosaki Ichigo."_

* * *

><p>Ichigo was in pain, horrible pain like he had never felt before, and the girl fussing over him while scolding him like he was a child made it all the worse.<p>

"Honestly, Ichigo, you'd think someone like you would at least respect animal life."

Ichigo's scowl only got deeper "_That was no animal. That was a demon wearing a cat's flesh."_

On their way back home, Ichigo got a feeling that they were being followed, the presence of what he was sure was following them came from a nearby alley, so he set Rukia down much to her silent protests, and stepped into the alley.

And right onto a cat's tail.

The ball of fur didn't run away like most cats would have. No, this one jumped on Ichigo's face in an impressive display of acrobatics and nearly shredded his face with claws Ichigo was sure weren't supposed to be so long or have such a metal-like composition.

"Something was following us, and that cat's appearance gave it time to escape."

"Stop exaggerating, you're just being paranoid. And don't take out your anger on the poor cat; it must have been so scared!"

"_What could scare a demon like that?"_

"_Karin."_

It wasn't Ichigo's face that hurt, it had already healed, but he had taken an enormous wound to his pride.

Elsewhere, in an out-of-the-way shop, a man in a bucket hat was having trouble with his lungs due to the outrageous laughter coming out of him.

Sitting in front of him was a woman with purple hair and dark skin, looking as if she would murder him and everyone else if he didn't shut up right then.

* * *

><p>Cut!<p>

This chapter gave me trouble, not because I wasn't sure this is how I wanted it to turn out, but because I was about 3K words in when there was a blackout, it lasted about 3 hours. Hurray for 3rd world countries!

Anyways, when I finally dragged my ass into writing it over again, I kept putting it off because I remembered I have like 20 other stories that had been updated and I wanted to read. Hey, I like reading fanfiction too, you know.

An observant reviewer pointed out that Rukia getting the Hōgyoku from Urahara when she got her gigai was a common misconception. Let's address that point here in case anyone else has doubts.

Getting it at any other point before makes absolutely no sense to me.

If Rukia had had the Hōgyoku inside of her before she even got to Karakura, then Aizen would not have let her go in the first place, and Bleach would be a lot shorter and a lot more boring.

That's just what I think with what I know, anyways. Feel free to slap me with a fish if I'm wrong. I'll take it like a man.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter; it's slightly shorter than what I promised myself it would be, but blackouts and all that jazz.

Leave a review with your thoughts and the amount of liquor my drinking game's made you have. Except instead of awe for Ichigo, let's play it as how many times this fic has made you laugh.

- Flameal out.


	5. Chapter four  Soccer and Football

Disclaimer: If I owned Bleach, I wouldn't even need to go to college. But since I do, I get to write crap like this every time a class is boring (read: Always).

EDIT: Chapter edited and fixed as of the 12/16/12 update. Pretty sure I missed stuff, should get a beta reader.

This chapter is brought to you by the last season of Lost (I don't own that, either, thank god.)

The First Guardian

Chapter Four: Soccer is a lot more violent that Football.

Kuchiki Rukia was a very patient Shinigami. She was, after all, the adopted sibling of a Kuchiki Byakuya, the head of the Kuchiki clan and probably the highest figure of nobility anyone in Seireitei could think of.

She was trained on several ways of etiquette, discipline, and noble behavior so as to hold up the reputation that someone of a noble clan such as her should have.

She took great pride on her training, and the fact that she could pull off as much of a noble façade as her elder brother could. It had taken a great number of years to learn all of that.

The why, for all that isn't Hollow in nature, did Kurosaki Ichigo manage to shatter everything she had worked for, and bring out the Rukia that frequently stole food and water back in her Rukongai days?

Ichigo intrigued her like no other thing ever had; the man had the presence of a leader she had only seen Shinigami Captains pull off. He had the brains to think of everything necessary for any situation and the will and, best of all, the capacity to break through any barriers that dared set itself between him and his goals. She began respecting him from the first night when they met, and over the past couple of weeks, it had only grown as she saw more and more of the man he was both in school and in the battlefield.

That wasn't the problem, oh no, the problem was…

* * *

><p>"Ichigo, what're you doing to your Shinigami uniform?"<p>

"Well, you see, me and my companion thought that having a theme song was a pretty cool thing, but before we got around to choosing one, we had to figure out a way to make everyone hear it whenever we pulled off something cool."

"…And?"

"Well, what better way than to stick speakers to the uniform's front? Sure, they may restrict mobility and my ability to crawl through narrow spaces, but they provide awesome sound and perhaps better armor."

"… I can't believe you're doing this. No, I can't believe your Zanpakutō would agree to something like this, a Zanpakutō is respectful of both its appearance and that of its wielder, it's their nature! And I thought your sword was the voice of reason!"

…

"Okay so maybe he's not exactly agreeing with me on this, but-"

* * *

><p>That day Rukia learned she was as good with a shoe or sandal as she was with a sword. "<em>Still couldn't hit him, though."<em>

* * *

><p>"What is that infernal sound?" Rukia actually had an idea of what it was, but she seriously hoped it wasn't what she thought it was.<p>

"I like it!" Of course Orihime liked it; she must have felt the same as Rukia did at that moment, and she liked everything Ichigo did, Rukia still felt annoyed about that.

Down the hall came one Kurosaki Ichigo, holding what looked like a stereo, from a car, with his right arm held around it, and a battery, again from a car, in his left hand.

"Yo."

"What do you think you're doing?" Rukia's normal school act was gone, but everyone around her was just as bewildered as she was so no one noticed it.

"Well, we finally decided on a theme song, but since you stopped me from, err… making sure it was heard when I… did something awesome. I decided to have everyone hear it o that it would inevitably come to their minds whenever it's required."

…

"Do you like? It's called 'Number One' and it's-"

* * *

><p>Rukia had to make great use of her memory modifier that day to make everyone forget the display of words and creativity that came from her mouth. It surprised Ichigo long enough to make him drop the contraption that she later destroyed, but it only made her more irate when he looked at her with unmasked admiration when she was done.<p>

He could be the greatest person she'd ever known one moment, and the next he'd be someone no shrink on either world would allow you to stand next to.

Said person was now-

"_What is he doing?"_

He had said they'd go out for a walk, they ended up skipping the last couple of periods of class, he had said it was something extremely important that had to be done now. When she got around to asking, he just said 'It's a Friday of an odd day between the 10th and 18th of the month.'

That was real helpful, yeah.

"Ichigo, I'm not following you any further if you don't tell me what's going on."

Ichigo stopped walking, he turned around and looked at her and considered something. It was the first time someone other than his Zanpakutō came with him on a day like this, and he had never felt the need to explain it.

"Well, I have previously chosen several days in a month, the pattern I follow is erratic so as to throw off anyone who'd attempt to read them."

"Explain further, please."

Ichigo sighed, he knew she'd only get more confused, but he elaborated "Today, for example, is a Friday of an odd day between the 10th and 18th of a month. Similar days are the last Tuesday of each month it's between the 27th and the last, as well as the first Thursdays if it's between the 1st and 4th of the month, and odd numbered Wednesdays if they're between the 5th and the 9th of a month. There's more, but this is getting lengthy."

"… Okay, what do those days mean?"

"Those are the days I make sure to follow my sisters around."

Rukia blinked "You're stalking your own sisters?"

"Stalking is a… severe term for what I'm doing. No, I'm making sure they stay safe. By making the days seemingly random no one can tell when I'm there looking after them, so they'll try something stupid against my sisters. And when I shop up and kick their asses it adds to the effect that I'm always there looking after my sisters no matter when they choose to do something. Regardless, even if I wasn't around, I'd be able to feel it, but it would take longer for me to arrive and so they'd eventually think that if they act faster they'd manage something, and they probably would.

"I want to give them the illusion that no matter what they try, there is no way that they can harm my sisters, and eventually they'll give up altogether."

"You're awfully paranoid."

"Hardly."

"Wait, so there's someone actively trying to harm your sisters? What have they done?"

Ichigo's scowl deepened as he started walking again "It's my fault, I guess. I got into plenty of brawls back in the day. And eventually those guys I beat up learned I had two younger siblings, so they decided that they were my weak point and constantly try to use them to get back at me. Just another dumb mistake of mine."

Rukia knew what he considered was his other mistake, but decided not to voice anything and instead watch what he'd do.

He motioned her to stop, then walked into and through some bushes and trees, then told her to lay low as they peeked through the wilderness.

Before them was a wide terrain used for several sports, mainly soccer, and there were several children currently playing.

"Today in particular is a soccer day, so my little sister Karin plays, or actually utterly destroys, the other kids from her class. She's darn good at sports, and the other kids are big wusses, so I can't count on them helping Karin if something happens."

Rukia didn't know what soccer was or how it was played, but if the way Ichigo's sister moved around the field and left everyone else biting dust was any indication, then she was pretty good at it.

"My other sister, Yuzu, just sits by and watches. And while she would help and defend her twin sister no matter what, she's not a fighter; her personality and character are too meek for her to intimidate anyone."

Yuzu was sitting on some benches outside of the field, watching with a smile as Karin played, she seemed to take great joy in watching her twin play a mean game of soccer.

"_Karin plays enough for the both of them, it seems."_ Rukia mused.

"Normally nothing- Oh, too soon, take a look at that."

Rukia saw what looked like guys from their own school, except they had different insignias to prove that was not the case.

"What are you going to do?"

Ichigo smiled, a bit sadistically, perhaps. "It's just three of them today. I'll let Karin handle them for a little bit before I step in, if they see her defend herself well, then that also helps towards stopping their bullshit altogether."

Rukia looked as if she didn't accept that, so Ichigo reassured her "Don't worry, I'm fast enough to stop a punch from one of these guys from this distance even before it was halfway to Karin, so I'm not actually risking anything, keep watching."

The game stopped the moment the guys walked into the field, and Yuzu stood up in case she needed to step in to aid her sister, even if she couldn't really do anything.

"Hey little girl."

Karin looked at the guy who spoke, seemingly the group's leader, and put her foot over the soccer ball she was about to kick into the opposing team's goal. "Yes? You're not supposed to interrupt a game, can this wait?" Karin took pride on being able to wear her Nii-san's scowl as he did during moments like this.

"Listen, you little bitch, your brother owes us, but since he doesn't have the guts to show up for us to beat up, you'll have to do."

Karin rose an eyebrow at that, this wasn't the first time this happened, she recognized one of the guys, his nose still looked strange from when her Nii-san introduced it to his knee. The guy's knee.

"I don't have time for this, I have a game to win, and you guys are really ruining the scenery with your ugly faces."

"What the-" That's all he said before he nearly swallowed a mouthful of soccer ball. When it bounced off his face and before he had time to realize what had happened, he took another mouthful, this time off foot, which managed to make him land flat on his back.

Ichigo beamed at Rukia "I taught her that one." She couldn't say she was surprised.

When the guy's head stopped spinning, he saw the girl wearing a smug look and still holding her leg out from when she kicked him. He stood up and motioned to the guys behind him "That's it! The bitch gets it! We were just going to take you as bait for your brother, but we'll have to beat you up now!"

The guys moved advanced on Karin, but then the leader felt someone tapping his shoulder "What?" Then he paled a little bit, standing behind him was the guy whose sister he was trying to harm.

Rukia's eyes nearly fell out of her head, she didn't even notice when Ichigo left her side in the bushes.

Ichigo was smiling as if he was just told he was the most handsome man in the world, which as far as he cared, he was. "Hey there, buddy! Allow me to inform of the mistakes you made today. First, you interrupted a sport that no amount of rain, snow, or stolen cars has ever managed to stop. Secondly, you popped your shirt's collar, that makes you look like a horrible douchebag, and they should put you in jail for that. Oh, and third," Now his smile disappeared and a face that could have made a gun refuse to shoot replaced it "You tried to harm, and kidnap, my little sister to use her as bait against me."

The leader tried to speak, keyword being tried, but his brain had not caught up with the fact that his lungs had no oxygen in them at all. Ichigo's fist was buried in his stomach and the next moment he crumpled like a tower of cards during an earthquake.

One of the guys, the one with the shattered nose, fled the scene as quickly as his legs would allow him to, but seeing in which direction the guy was going, Ichigo didn't bother to chase after and instead turned to his sister who was now kicking the last guy while he was in fetal position on the ground. What put him there was no mystery as he was howling in pain and holding the family jewels.

"_Your sister scares me."_

"_You have testicles?"_

"_I do, wanna see them?"_

"_Keep your testicles away from me."_

"_I can't, I'm inside you."_

"_That sounds worse."_

"_Why?"_

"I could have handled them myself, Ichi-Nii." She tried to look annoyed, but it was always nice to see her brother cared.

"Maybe, but there's something they said I wanna check on."

Yuzu came over to them; she seemed more concerned for the guy who had just gone unconscious from mass genital pain than her sister.

"You went overboard, sister."

"Really? I think he could have used another kick. Wanna do the honors?"

Yuzu refused, of course, she felt bad when she stepped on little bugs, and the idea of harming someone else who was already defenseless was pretty much a taboo for her.

"Go back to your game; I and these fellows have something to talk about."

"Aww, but I wanna see you torture them, Ichi-Nii."

"Listen to Onii-chan, Karin. Keep playing! You were doing great!" Yuzu was the only person other than Ichigo that could talk Karin into anything.

"Fine." They both waved Ichigo good-bye as he dragged the two poor bastards into the bushes.

"Yo, Rukia."

"Took you long enough." Rukia was sitting on the back of the guy who was previously run away, he was as beat up as anyone could be, but it seemed Rukia had avoided the idiot's nose. Probably didn't want to make it any uglier.

"Is he conscious? I need one of these awake for what comes next."

"He is, he's pretending not to, though." She kicked the guy in the ribs, Rukia was actually pretty angry with the three bigger men, they were trying to pick on someone they considered weaker, and in greater numbers. These men had no honor, and that pissed her off greatly.

Maybe she was a bit of a hypocrite, she only thought of things like honor and the like when it seemed convenient.

The guy groaned from the kick, and Ichigo lifted him from the back of his shirt and shoved him against a tree, making him land in a seated position.

"We can do this the easy way, or my way. I am going to ask you simple questions, if I don't get straight answers; I am going to immediately switch to my way, without preamble or warning. Is that clear?" And the guy just groaned.

So Ichigo kicked him in the stomach "That was a question. You failed."

"I'll answer anything; just- just stop the pain!"

"Good. Now, you guys were setting up a trap for me, which means somewhere, someone is waiting for you to come with my sister, and then you'd draw me to that place, which I expect is to be filled with everyone in your group and perhaps whoever sent you. Before you lie and force me to kick you again, you guys have no brain to set this up, which means someone else did. My question now is: Where is this place?"

Rukia had been thinking the exact same thing, her method would have been a lot more sadistic, but perhaps less aggressive. "_Don't mess with his sisters."_

"It's a- it's in a wrecked warehouse, the whole area around it has been abandoned since an explosion a few days ago! We've been using it as our base since."

"_Oh."_

"_Oh! I get it now. It's because it sounded gay, right?"_

And his Zanpakutō was somewhere else entirely, it seemed. The warehouse he blasted all those Hollows in and got stabbed from behind like a moron-

"_Morons get stabbed like morons, moron."_

-was the one they were using as a base.

"I know the place, now; this is what you'll do. You're going to stay here very quiet and not tell your friends I'm on my way to join their party."

"_You can't be sure he won't say anything."_

"_I know."_

So he punched the guy's lights out.

"Well, Rukia, sorry you had to see that. I don't like doing things like that."

"It's okay, you had to. It's for your sisters."

Ichigo shrugged, he really felt like he was some bad guy and not as a badass just now, but when it came to his sisters, he became a new kind of demon.

"Alright, so I'm gonna go beat someone up."

"I'm coming."

"_Ha-ha!"_

"I figured."

* * *

><p>Oda Yokohama was starting to get fidgety, the guys he had sent to 'retrieve' the orange-haired asshole's sister were late, and it was making him nervous.<p>

"_It was my plan, a perfect plan!"_ His target should be in class, and his sisters far from his protection. They should have no problem getting one of them. He had timed it all to be perfect, but now those goons were apparently screwing up.

"This is a nice setup you guys have here. Looks a lot better than it did when I blew it up, anyways."

For a second, he almost flinched. That voice belonged to someone who had brought him great pain. But then he realized there was nothing to fear. The boy was outnumbered, apparently unarmed, and had come here of his own volition, it didn't matter if they had either of his sisters or not.

"You were a fool to come here, Kurosaki! You're heavily outnumbered and all with no way out!" Sure enough, the (newly repaired) warehouse gate was shut behind Ichigo, leaving several lit-up drum cans as their only source of light.

There were at least two dozen people walking towards the guy who had spoken, perhaps the leader, and getting between him and Ichigo.

Ichigo just raised an eyebrow, and then took a few steps to the side.

The other guys didn't have to wonder why for too long before the wall behind Ichigo exploded and flew through the air only to fall on top of them all.

"Awesome timing, Rukia."

The girl was standing outside with a hand held in front of her, palm outwards, and panting heavily from exhaustion.

"_That took a lot more than it should have."_

"What the hell did you just do?"

"Oh? You're still up? Seems you're 24 out of 25, Rukia. Sloppy."

She knew he was just joking, so didn't bother to glare or say anything.

"Now…" Ichigo was suddenly in front of Yokohama, and the guy knew no more.

* * *

><p>Yokohama woke to the sound of steps and being moved around. He opened his eyes slowly only to see the ground, moving in front of him and a pair of feet belonging to whoever was carrying him. Then the pain kicked in and he groaned.<p>

"Finally, you're awake."

That voice. That was Kurosaki's! He was the one carrying towards what he felt was a horrible, painful fate.

"What- what are you going to do to me?"

A girl's voice spoke next "Your friends were knocked out by the door, but none of them are heavily hurt and should be able to get back home on their own."

Ichigo took it from there "You weren't so lucky, I cracked a couple of your ribs and one of them was actually visible from your side. So I'm taking you to the Kurosaki clinic."

Oda processed that, then- "What? But I just- why are you- what? I tried to kidnap your sister! I wanted to beat you until you couldn't move!"

"So? I couldn't just leave you to bleed out."

"But why?"

"For starters, I'm not a killer. Not really. And murdering someone over something as silly as trying to beat me up is a little harsh. Though if you had actually managed to harm one of my little sisters, well… Maaaaybe I wouldn't have left you, either. But you'd have a lot more than a couple of broken ribs, trust me on that one."

The rest of the trip was silent, and Yokohama Oda had a lot to think about during that time, what little thinking he could do with the pain, anyways.

They arrived in front of Ichigo's home "Alright, you fell off your bike and me and Rukia were walking by, and since there wasn't any road an ambulance could take to get to you, we decided to bring you here to our clinic. Got it?"

He did the smart thing, for once "Understood."

"ICHI- what?" Isshin, somehow, stopped mid jump-kick when he saw the way Ichigo arrived at their home.

"Yo, dad, I have-"

"Ichigo! Who is this lovely lady? Is she your girlfriend? Have you finally grown to become a man, Ichigo? Oh, Masaki! Our son has finally-" A rock to the back of the head stopped his tirade. Ichigo was amused Rukia had done that. It figured _that_ is what his father would notice, not the bleeding guy he was carrying.

They told him the whole (made up) story. And Isshin immediately got to work on assisting the wounded guy.

Ichigo went back up to his room, and Rukia followed after.

That would come back and bite Ichigo in the ass later.

* * *

><p>"That was a good thing you did today, Ichigo." Rukia had changed into her pajamas, though how she did that in her cramped closet was a mystery to Ichigo.<p>

"_So, Ichigo, HER closet, huh?"_

"_Don't start."_

"Whatever." He shrugged; it didn't seem like much of a big deal, really.

"Really, Ichigo. Not everyone would have bothered to aid a downed enemy. You managed to reign in your anger and took mercy of your defeated opponent. If you ask me, that's a virtue a guardian should have." Rukia really felt proud Ichigo had acted as he did.

Ichigo smiled, whether it was because she was praising him or because she called him a guardian, he wasn't sure. But he liked it either way.

"It's a bit too early to sleep, isn't it?"

"I'm tired. That Shakkahō took more out of me than I thought."

"That's strange; you didn't even use the incantation."

"What're you talking about? I did use the incantation."

"Really? Didn't feel like you did."

Rukia didn't answer. That Shakkahō was as strong as she could cast it even at full power. "_My __Sōkatsui is probably as strong as his Shakkahō. Powerhouse, that's what he is."_

"But still, you should have recovered enough by now. Enough to do that, at least."

"I thought the same, but apparently this is going to take longer than we thought."

That ceased all conversation for the day; Rukia closed the door to the closet after throwing Ichigo a change of clothes and promptly fell asleep.

"_She's even choosing your clothes for you now."_

"_Shut it."_

"_Why do you keep ignoring this, you know it to be-"_

"_Tomorrow."_

"_Hmm?"_

"_We start the training tomorrow."_

"_Excellent."_

* * *

><p>I was trying to watch the last season of Lost on DVD. I fell asleep a lot faster than I normally do when I head to bed. So I put it away and got to writing this chapter and the next. So I guess you could be thankful of the fact I found that series to be boring as hell.<p>

This is what you'd call a 'filler' chapter. Some people mentioned Ichigo's sisters weren't getting much screen time, so I decided to do a chapter with them. I was planning to, just a little bit later. This chapter also helped a bit with character development.

Oh, and it's rather short because I plan to post the next one immediately. Leave a review and go read that one, then be kind and leave another review for that one.

- Flameal out.


	6. Chapter five Rocky and The Karate Kid

READ FIRST: I POSTED TWO CHAPTERS TODAY, GO BACK TO THE ONE BEFORE THIS IF YOU HAVEN'T READ IT ALREADY.

Disclaimer: Hurp-de-dur-de-durp. I don't own Bleach. Kubo Tite does and the only way I'll get him to hand it over is by giving him immortality or something equally ridiculous. I wouldn't need Bleach if I had that.

EDIT: Chapter edited and fixed as of the 12/16/12 update. Pretty sure I missed stuff, should get a beta reader.

The following chapter is brought to you by insomnia and a can of monster energy drink!

The First Guardian

Chapter five – Rocky and The Karate Kid would be proud.

Today was going to be a good day, Ichigo felt. It was one of those days when he and his Zanpakutō went to find someplace to try out new things. His mood was soaring and he had a big smile as he sat up from his bed, Rukia was already changed and out of her closet. He wasn't fooled, she wasn't a morning person by any standards, and the way she yawned (and looked horribly cute while doing it) was proof enough.

"What is it you plan to do today, Ichi-?"

Someone knocked on Ichigo's door. That wasn't the problem; the problem was that it was too early for anyone in his house to be awake. The problem, as well as Ichigo's day, only got worse when they heard the voice behind the door.

"Ichigo, come downstairs, I need talk to you about something."

It was his father; he was never awake so early. Ichigo had made sure to wake up earlier than anyone else in his home since Rukia moved in. That way they wouldn't be caught by surprise by Isshin jumping into his room in one of his daily fits of crazy and discovering Rukia.

The extra food he brought up to his room was explained as Ichigo being a growing boy.

Neither of those things were the main problem, either.

He had knocked on his door.

_Isshin Kurosaki _had knocked Ichigo's door.

"_I just felt as if someone stepped on our graves."_

"_Probably took a dump on them, too."_

He looked at Rukia, who was as confused as he was. Then got up from his bed and left the room a little too slowly to his liking.

He went downstairs, once again, slowly and on the lookout. His father could jump at him from anywhere, and he had to be on guard.

"_Ichigo, I think this is how those poor bastards felt in Friday the 13__Th.__"_

Except now Ichigo was the poor bastard, and he didn't like that one bit.

He walked into the living room, were he saw his father sitting, there were two teacups set on the table in front of him.

"Come sit with me, Ichigo."

Isshin motioned Ichigo to take the seat in front of him, and Ichigo did. He gulped, his father rarely ever acted this way.

Isshin took a sip of his tea, and Ichigo did the same "Ichigo, there are some questions I need answered."

Ichigo couldn't believe it. Had his father figured out what he had been doing? Did he find out he fought Hollows? Of course he had, he was an idiot for not realizing it. His father was a Shinigami captain, and the idiot thing was a façade he used for his family. He had to tread very carefully.

"Y-yeah? Like what?"

Isshin took another sip of his tea, and set the cup down before crossing his fingers before his face, his face completely serious.

"How long have you been doing this, Ichigo?"

"_Damn it."_

"_The cat's out of the bag, might as well be honest, Ichigo."_

"… Four years."

Isshin's eyes widened, but then he calmly nodded and looked Ichigo straight in the eyes.

"Ichigo, why did you hide this from me?"

"I- I didn't know it was proper to tell, I mean-"

"Proper, Ichigo? This was something you should have told me, all of us, the moment it started. Don't you feel we deserved to know, son?"

Now he was starting to feel bad, his father was really laying the guilt trip.

"Ichigo, yesterday, I saw her go with you into your room, and didn't leave. In fact, she's still in there. You should have told me your girlfriend would stay over. If I had known you'd be bringing girls here, I'd have soundproofed your room."

"_Wait, what?"_ His Zanpakutō could offer no response; he had apparently fallen off a rooftop while laughing like a maniac.

"Wait, no, she's- I mean, nothing happened and she-"

"Ichigo, I heard her talking with you inside of your room, don't deny it anymore!" Now his father had stood up and looked as a proud as a man could.

"You have become a man! I am so proud of you my son! Masaki! Our son has become a real man and now I have another beautiful daughter!"

"_Son of a-"_

"Umm, excuse me?"

"_Oh dear mother of-"_

"Oh look, it's my beautiful, newest daughter! How are you my dear? I'm Isshin, Ichigo's father. I don't have enough words to express how proud I am of my son for getting such a beautiful girlfriend!"

"_Why did she come down?"_ Ichigo's mind and world were falling apart at how ridiculous this whole situation was, and the booming laughter coming from his sword really wasn't making things any better.

"Don't be mad at your son, sir. I- I suggested we keep it a secret, you see. I come from an old-school family, and the head of the family, my brother, wouldn't have approved of Ichigo being with me if he knew. So it's my entire fault sir, really." That was Rukia's school act, and it was flawless. She extended a hand towards Ichigo, apparently to hold one of his. She had something written on it. _Play along and don't screw up,_ it said.

"_There goes my good day."_ He took her hand and stood there awkwardly.

"Is this true, Ichigo?" Ichigo doubted for a second, then sighed in resignation and nodded.

Isshin started crying, it was disturbing to see a grown man crying like that "I didn't think I could be prouder of my son! Shouldering this all by himself during all these years! He's such a strong man, Masaki!"

Ichigo resisted the urge to slam his head against- well, everything in the room.

"What's your name, my dear?"

"_And the Award to the Best Goddamn Actress in the Whole Damn World goes to…"_

"Kuchiki Rukia, sir."

"What a lovely name! Tell me, my new daughter, how did Ichigo end up scoring such a pretty girlfriend?"

Then Rukia started telling the same story she told Ichigo's friends at school, the one about him saving her.

"_Ichigo, you can't make yourself spontaneously combust. Stop trying it."_

"Dad, we're going somewhere, you can talk again to Rukia later."

"Going on a date? Nice, Ichigo! Wait, wouldn't her brother wonder where she was all night?"

Rukia picked up the ball fast "He's going to be out of town for a couple of months, so I'm all alone until he comes back."

"_Fuck."_ His sword just resumed laughing.

"What! No daughter of mine is going to be all by herself! You're free to come live with us in the Kurosaki household. You can stay in Ichigo's room."

"Wait, what? Then where the hell am I going to sleep?"

"With her, of course."

"_Finally, someone who understands!"_

"_Shut the fuck up and die."_

"Thanks for the offer, Isshin-san. I'll be happy to stay in this house."

"Please, call me dad."

"Okay. Thanks, dad."

That got Isshin to start another tirade about Masaki, so Ichigo took the chance and ran back upstairs with Rukia in tow.

"Get changed, quick. If we're fast we'll be out of the house before he stops."

Rukia gave him an amused smile, then shook her head and entered her closet and tossed out a few garments for Ichigo to pick from. They both got changed and left using Ichigo's window. He really wanted to avoid his father. For the rest of the year if he could.

* * *

><p>They both arrived at a clearing – it was yet another abandoned area in Karakura town, this one could be found by walking up the river until reaching the edge of town.<p>

"So what is it you want to do, exactly?" Rukia voiced her curiosity, she had been wondering how Ichigo trained for quite some time.

"For starters, I want to increase my sword's density to make it stronger. It having such a big area makes the spirit particles in it spread a bit too much, making it weaker than other smaller Zanpakutō."

Rukia nodded, that was an academy basic, and everyone had to learn to do that. Otherwise all those who had large amounts of Spiritual Energy would have big swords.

"Well, making your sword smaller is pretty easy, I could teach you-"

"What? No, I don't want to make my sword smaller."

"But you just said-"

"I know what I said, I want to increase my sword's density, but I want it to stay the same size."

"Why? And is that even possible?"

"Because I like it just the way it is. And I dunno, really. The obvious solution would be to increase the amount of particles forming my sword, so maybe I should just put a lot of Reiatsu into it?"

Rukia honestly didn't know, she had heard of such things, some swords became larger and retained their strength, or some got even stronger.

Thing was, those were _Bankai._

Ichigo wasn't even going to use Shikai.

"I don't know Ichigo; such a method is unheard of."

Ichigo gave her a cocky grin and tilted his head to the side "Then I'm about to invent something new. Isn't that exciting?"

Rukia snorted, and then took out her glove while shaking her head. She didn't bring the Gikongan because she intended to save it for combat situations or for when Ichigo was going to be away for a long time.

"You're crazy, you know that?"

"Took you long enough to find out."

Once Ichigo was out of his body and into his Shinigami form, he told Rukia to get to a safe distance, he wasn't sure if this wasn't going to explode on him.

"_You better not make me explode."_

"_You enjoyed it when I made things explode."_

"_That was different."_

"_How so?"_

"_It wasn't me."_

Ichigo settled into a stance, holding his sword with both hands in front of him, slightly angled so that the point was aiming at the sky and yet away from him.

He closed his eyes, and then tried to focus his Reiatsu into his sword. He felt it move, and the sword started glowing with it. But it felt the same, so he kept charging it with Reiatsu.

Rukia was mesmerized, Ichigo's sword was giving off an amazing glow, and the amounts of Reiatsu coming from him just kept increasing,

"_Is he actually stronger than when I met him?" _That was impossible, wasn't it? "_Though he has an amazing learning curve, he's done things that Shinigami hundreds of years older than him could only dream of."_ She wasn't sure she'd want to fight him, even at full strength. "_He has Shikai, too."_ She hadn't seen it, but she knew Ichigo wouldn't lie to her about that. Actually, he never lied to her.

She smiled at that thought.

Ichigo stopped, this wasn't working. If this was something no one had ever done before, then he doubted it would work like this. "_Someone would have figured it out by now."_

"_Ichigo, instead of just filling me up with energy, try taking the Spirit Particles in the air into me. Karakura has a high amount of them."_

"_Can I do that? Isn't that, I dunno, a Quincy thing?"_

"_Couldn't hurt to try."_

So he did, he got a feel for the energies around him. They were there, but getting a hold of them was tricky, as they seemingly slipped from his mind's fingers.

"_Be gentle; think of them as water rather than tendrils and dust."_

That actually made it easier, he could now feel them moving around as he willed them to, now he just needed to direct them into his sword.

"_Ichigo, don't just put them all over me, direct them inside of the blade. Otherwise I'll just end up bigger."_

"_Easier said than done."_

It was a two part process, first, he had to squeeze them into his sword, and then he had to make sure they didn't overflow. He had to pack them together and make sure they didn't leak.

"_I don't leak."_

"_You know what I mean."_

After a while, he felt he couldn't another particle inside of his sword, so he closed up the makeshift hole he had made into his sword's spiritual build.

He felt for his sword for a bit, it actually felt lighter, but now he felt it was far more solid, as if there was nothing it couldn't cut.

Unstoppable, even.

"_Hey, are you okay?"_

"_Is this how potheads feel? Because I don't think I'll be able to hate them if they do."_

Ichigo snorted, apparently his sword was high.

* * *

><p>"Kisuke, what was that I just saw?" Shihōin Yoruichi could not hide her bewilderment from his partner as she looked through her binoculars.<p>

"Interesting." Was all that came from Urahara Kisuke.

"Interesting? Kisuke, that should be impossible, no Shinigami should be capable of that!" She was now gesturing wildly, it seemed completely out of character for her, but the shop keeper couldn't really blame her.

"I know what Shinigami are capable of. But we're not sure what Kurosaki Ichigo is capable of." He answered cryptically. He really loved doing that.

"But he's a Shinigami, isn't he?"

"Indeed. But he's also Kurosaki Ichigo."

Yoruichi knew Kisuke would only get even more impossible if she kept fishing for a straight answer. He was always like that when he was focused on an idea.

* * *

><p>"<em>Are you back with us, man?"<em>

"_Yeah, I am. That felt real good. Like a sugar rush, without the crashing afterwards."_

"_How do you know what a sugar rush is?"_

"_Let's try something else, shall we?"_

"Ichigo, did it work?" Rukia had walked over after Ichigo stopped focusing, and only asked because she didn't know what else to say. She could literally feel the sword exuding power; it had an inaudible, yet pleasant, hum that came from it. "_It's almost beating, and it's not even a Shikai."_

"Oh? Yeah, it worked. Not like I expected it to, but whatever works, I guess."

"So what are you planning to do now?"

"My sword just came up with something else, this time it has a real chance of exploding on us, so get farther than you did last time, please."

Rukia was about to smack him over the head. Or try to, anyways. She didn't like how blasé he was the whole thing. "_Does he care about what happens to __him?"_

Ichigo entered the same stance he did before, and once again focused on the spirit particles, except this time he only focused on the ones inside of his sword.

"_Alright, get a feel for them. And then move them as fast as you can."_

He did just that, making them flow up and down it's sword in a never-ending current, but he didn't feel any change.

"_Anything?"_

"_Not really, I don't think you're moving them fast enough."_

"_This is the fastest I can go."_

"_Hmm…"_

Ichigo stopped, and sat down while still looking at his sword. It was time for a little bit of brainstorming.

* * *

><p>"I know that look in your eyes; you're planning something, aren't you?"<p>

"Whatever do you mean? When have I ever had an ingenious plan, Yoruichi?"

"Stop being an asshole and tell me."

"Let's go talk to him, shall we?" Urahara had a huge grin hidden behind his fan.

* * *

><p>Ichigo stood up, there two presences approaching, and he could only recognize one of them.<p>

"Urahara." He nodded towards the geta-wearing man. Then looked towards the woman that had arrived with him. She was a beautiful woman, if a little strange, with purple hair and dark skin, and yellow eye-

"_Hold on."_

"I know you; you were at my mother's funeral as well." Rukia was now standing beside him, looking as puzzled as Ichigo felt.

"I was. I'm Shihōin Yoruichi. At your service." She gave him a saucy grin, but then blinked when he completely ignored her in favor of Urahara.

"So, bucket man, what brings you here?" Urahara wasn't sure if he had to feel offended, and then remembered he didn't really care anyways.

"Well, I was just taking a walk by with my beautiful companion here, when we spotted you apparently training. I couldn't help but watch a bit of it." Urahara said in a cheery tone.

Ichigo still wasn't fooled. "_At least one your stalkers is a female."_

"And?" He rose an eyebrow at that, Urahara really took pride on his disarming charisma.

"Well, I was wondering if you'd want some advice. I think I got the gist of what you want to do."

"_I already owe him. I'm not sure I want to add to that."_

"_Think about it, Ichigo. If we keep going we could really hurt ourselves. This way if we do at least we can shift the blame on him and then he'd have to help us further."_

Ichigo could see some wisdom in that. Some.

"Alright, but Rukia and Yoruichi-san will have to watch from afar. I can't be sure this won't blow up on my face." "_You can stay though. I want to see how you react to third-degree burns."_

His sword couldn't help but giggle.

"Great! Let's get started then, do what you were doing a moment ago."

As soon as both ladies were a safe distance away, Ichigo got back into his stance and focused again by closing his eyes. As soon as he got the flow going, he opened them and saw Kisuke touching his sword as if it was a pair of breasts.

"_Ichigo, help! I'm being molested!"_

"What are you doing?" He lost focus, and the flow stopped. Kisuke just got yet another grin on his face which he covered with his fan.

"Well, I was getting a feel for your Zanpakutō, as well as for its spirit particles. I like how they move around without changing its shape at all."

"_I feel so violated."_

"And what's your conclusion, doc?" Ichigo couldn't help but feel amused by his sword's plight.

"You have a gorgeous sword."

"_Argh."_

Ichigo snorted, he didn't really trust this guy, but he was real funny.

"We're both aware of that, thank you."

"Oh, so you can talk to it as well? Do you know its name?"

"Yes I do. No, I won't tell you, he doesn't want anyone knowing."

Urahara didn't seem affected by that at all, and any surprise that came from knowing Ichigo was this advanced was expertly hidden.

"You need to move them fast, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, think of your sword as a fine woman's behind."

"_Don't you fucking dare."_

"Right now, it's swaying to the sides, real sexy, but you need it to move faster. So have her shake that booty, instead. Like a Brazilian dancer's."

"_KILL HIM. KILL HIM DEAD."_

"_He's making sense though; shaking is a lot faster than just moving."_

"_I DON'T CARE."_

"Alright, I guess you make sense. Bonus points for bruising his ego like that."

"I exist to serve." Urahara gave a mock-bow, and then started observing once more.

Ichigo focused again, but this time forgot all about the flow. It was a lot harder, he could see his sword's form flickering a little bit, and he had to make sure it maintained its form while all the particles in it shook like a vibrator.

"_I fucking hate you."_

Then he felt it more than saw it, his sword lit up in flames. No, his sword _became_ flames. It was incredibly hot, he could see it in the air around it, but he could feel no heat coming from it. Urahara didn't have the same privilege, it seemed, he was fanning himself really hard.

"Success!" Urahara yelled, but then his eyes widened a bit and jumped far back.

Ichigo felt it, his sword's form was becoming unstable, and all the particles in it were about to become loose in what he was sure would be an impressive explosion. So he immediately focused on slowing them down.

It was really close to blowing up in his face, and he wasn't sure he could survive that, regeneration or not.

"_That was too close."_

"_No shit."_

"Ah, it's a shame; it seems there's a time limit to it. Isn't it? Then again, I figured it would be that way." Urahara explained while nodding as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Then why the hell didn't you warn me?" Ichigo no longer felt amused.

"I figured it would be a learning experience."

"_I don't like him."_

"_Welcome to the club."_

"But it wasn't all completely fruitless. Now you have a move that you can use, even if for short amounts of time. I don't there's anyone who wouldn't get caught off-guard by that, especially since your sword isn't a fire-elemental one."

Ichigo nodded, that's what he was thinking about.

"Oh well! It seems like my job here is done. Don't forget to step by my store if you need anything." With that, he put away his fan and walked back to Yoruichi, who looked ticked off for some reason.

"That was incredible, Ichigo." Rukia was once again standing next to him.

"It wasn't a big deal. I'm surprised it didn't explode, though it was a pretty close call."

"So, are you done?" Rukia wasn't sure she'd be able to take more surprises.

"What? No, well, perhaps with this. But I wanted to ask you to teach me Zanjutsu." At Rukia's curious expression, he elaborated "I can't really swing this sword right to save my life. Sure, I can kill hollows with it, but that's just a combination of brute strength and great speed-" He paused for a second and then rolled his eyes "And my sword's awesomeness."

Rukia smiled, his sword had a really big ego.

"Alright, but I'm not going to take any slacking from you. I take it you know at least some initial stances, yes?"

"I do, but I'm gonna have to do one-handed variations of them, as my sword is actually a one-hander." He gestured to where his right sleeve should be, and she understood.

"Very well, let's see what we can work out."

* * *

><p>It was now almost evening, and they were both walking back home. Rukia was actually a lot more exhausted than Ichigo was.<p>

"_He has great stamina. That's a good thing, isn't it?" _She blushed at the thought, and then shook her head.

"Onii-chan!" They heard Yuzu's voice coming from further down the road they were walking. She was running towards them with Karin behind her, it looked like they were being chased by someone.

"Karin-sama, Yuzu-sama! Please slow down, I can't run like this yet!"

"Stay away from us you mummy freak!" That was Karin.

Ichigo blinked; there was something that looked an awful lot like a mummy with pants chasing his sisters.

"Who are you?" Ichigo asked after both his sisters got behind hi holding either of his arms.

"Ichigo-sama! It's me, Yokohama Oda!" The mummy-like figure gestured, only his eyes, nostrils and mouth were visible.

…

"Who?"

"Ah! So cruel, Ichigo-sama! You saved me yesterday, remember? I had a horrible accident while riding my bike and you took me to your clinic to be saved!"

Oh.

_Oh._

"Are you trying to kidnap my sisters? And what's with the sama crap?"

The man actually stood up straight and gave a salute "I owe you a lot, Ichigo-sama! You saved my life even after-" He glanced at Ichigo's sisters "Even after I asked you not to! So I decided that from now on, I'd be of some use to you by looking after your sisters when you can't, Ichigo-sama."

Ichigo blinked.

Rukia snickered.

His sword snickered, too.

Ichigo blinked _again._

"I'm not sure that's a good-"

"Oh, but Ichigo-sama! Me and all of my underlings- err, classmates, have agreed to watch over Karin-sama and Yuzu-sama!" Sure enough, all of those guys that Rukia had thrown a huge wall at started coming out from behind trees, lamp posts, trash cans, even from bushes.

"They won't even notice we're there most of the time, Ichigo-sama!" The guy saluted again, but winced in obvious pain, he was far from healed.

"_So, Ichigo, what're you gonna do now?"_

Ichigo had no idea.

* * *

><p>First off, I wanna say that Oda will not be a recurrent character, he might make one or two other appearances, and maybe be mentioned a couple of times, too. But that's it, I'm not really into OC's. I dislike them most of the time.<p>

Alright so that's a wrap, two chapters in the same night. I can't help but wonder if I'm spoiling you guys, hmmm…

I don't know an iota about spirit particle physics. Hell, I don't know crap about normal physics, either! So I pulled a lot of the things you saw Ichigo training on straight out of my ass. Any complaints or ideas: leave them in a review.

Ichigo won't be god-like. Or well, at least not too soon and certainly not too much. Though I can't promise you the latter. It depends on how awesome I can make it.

As for why Ichigo can do what he does, well… that's a tale for another chapter.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter, I'm not sure I'll post next one this Sunday or Monday, mostly because I have college stuff to do that I've been putting off since Wednesday.

- Flameal out.


	7. Chapter six Annoying Bird

Disclaimer: Insert supposedly funny event Kubo Tite owns Bleach. I do not. Insert long string of curses.

EDIT: Chapter edited and fixed as of the 12/16/12 update. Pretty sure I missed stuff, should get a beta reader.

This chapter is brought to you by an absence of good video games!

The First Guardian

Chapter six – More annoying than a Disney bird.

Kuchiki Rukia wasn't sure how to feel about life as it was for her in the last few weeks. Or well, it would be more accurately to say she wasn't sure why she felt as she did during those days, and this ended up with her constantly looking insecure and lost in thought. Something Kurosaki Ichigo, the guy whose closet she lived in (She still didn't want to kick him out of his bed), picked up right away.

She knew that he saw something was amiss, but he never pressed her for an answer. He just asked if she was okay with an unusual tone that made her focus on the ground and want to put her hair behind her ear for some strange reason.

She obviously said everything was alright, and he stopped his inquiries. That wasn't all that much; she knew how mature Ichigo could be on matters such as this.

What she still couldn't believe was how easy Ichigo could get her out of her funks seemingly without effort. So much that she actually made a bit of an effort to make him notice her discomfort, and then he'd work his magic with both wise words and incredible insight, or with an unprecedented fit of extreme idiocy the likes of which Rukia had not seen before. That was saying a lot, really.

She had been a good friend of Abarai Renji long ago, after all.

Rukia was contemplating all of this as she and her friends (Not just Ichigo's now, but hers as well) were having lunch on the school's rooftop. And once again, Ichigo was able to pick up her mood and motioned for her to stand as he did the same.

Everyone else minus Chad, who had not arrived yet, saw the display. Some shared knowing looks; others looked like they were bending iron bars around their necks. All for the same reason.

They both walked a bit far from the group to ensure they wouldn't hear them talk. Ichigo turned towards Rukia and waited for her to speak, he already figured what this was all about, but it was courteous to let her talk her mind first.

"_What, you're a feminist now?"_

"_What if I am?"_

"Ichigo, I…" Rukia hesitated, she really didn't know where to begin "I've had… problems thinking about things, I've been unable to focus on the situation, and it's been driving me crazy to…" What was she doing? She was suddenly speaking her heart out to him, something she hadn't ever done before, the only being close enough to her to talk like this to was her sword, and you can't exactly tell your sword a secret, not one they didn't know about anyways. "… I want to focus on the future, but I've been distracted. And I have no idea why, it's so frustrating."

Ichigo smiled, this was exactly what he figured would be. He walked closer to her and put his hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eyes.

"Don't worry, Rukia. Right now, just enjoy and be yourself. Let me do the thinking for now, everything will be alright. I promise."

Rukia hesitated, for several reasons. First, he was basically telling her that he would take care of her, something that made her feel strange. Second, he was also telling her that she should not worry about her duties and fate, again, because he'd handle everything, and the fact that she felt he could do this without fail made her feel stranger. Thirdly…

Well, she liked when he touched her.

She smiled and nodded, then shook her head as they walked back to the group. He was giving her time to explore this and herself as she was now, as if he knew that that was what she wanted the most right now.

* * *

><p>"A parakeet." Ichigo could not have made that sound any plainer if he had put it in a mold beforehand.<p>

"How cute! Is it yours?" Rukia was now fawning over the bird that, incredibly enough, Chad had brought to school with him.

"_It's a fucking parakeet."_

"Yes" Came the answer form the gentle giant, who was holding the aforementioned bird's cage in one hand, seemingly tense for some reason.

Rukia then noticed the shift in atmosphere.

Everyone was acting strange, they all seemed pretty tense, as if they had bit down tin foil and couldn't let go. She then noticed their eyes were darting between Ichigo and the bird in Chad's cage.

"That's… a parakeet." Ichigo's voice seemed to make everyone else tense up even more, and Sado visibly took a step back.

"Yes" Sado was sweating, but his voice betrayed no emotion.

"Huh." Was the last thing that came from Ichigo before he turned and left the rooftop, slowly walking down the stairs.

Everyone let out their breaths, and Rukia just couldn't take it anymore.

"What just happened?"

"Huh?" Tatsuki seemed confused for a bit, and then she realized "Oh, of course. You weren't around a year ago."

"What? Why, what happened a year ago?"

Everyone got strange faces, but Keigo put on a brave one and stepped up to Rukia "It's a tale most of us would rather not remember, but I suppose that, for your own safety, we should tell you."

Rukia couldn't help but swallow nervously, it was something that apparently freaked them all out, and she wondered just what the hell was this all about.

"What happened?"

Keigo nodded grimly, and then sat down on the floor and motioned for Rukia to do the same. Everyone else followed and they all formed a circle, with Keigo sitting opposite from Rukia.

"We don't know how it all began, but we all know the consequences. It wasn't long after me and Mizuiro befriended Ichigo, it was still pretty hard keeping constant contact with him, he was even more absent from school than he is now." Keigo took a deep breath "Back then, Ichigo had a… problem of sorts."

"A problem?"

"With animals." It was Orihime who answered, to which everyone else nodded.

"… Animals?" Now she had an idea of where this was going.

"Yes, sometimes… dead animals turned up where he was."

Yeah, now she was sure, they were talking about his animal experiment- err, Healing Kidō training. Yeah.

"We were all very worried about him, he never struck us as a sadistic person, and we were all just hoping it was a phase. Turned out that it was, but it did not end until one particular incident occurred."

Rukia felt the need to sigh – she had an idea, or well, a feeling that this would be, to put it bluntly, stupid.

"One day, Ichigo showed up at school with a bird on his head…"

"A parakeet?" Rukia guessed.

"Yeah. Anyways, the bird wasn't there because he wanted it to, it was there for what we can only guess was revenge."

"_What?"_

"It was constantly chasing after Ichigo, pecking him and hitting his head with his beak, it followed him around for about two weeks, and then Ichigo got fed up with it. He started muttering about… dark things, things he wanted to do to the bird. Sometimes we'd hear him mutter about spears and empty halls, and other times about masks made of flesh. He was…"

"Scary." Chad and Mizuiro spoke at the same time.

"Then one day, Ichigo came to school with the parakeet once again harassing him, and then the bird started calling him a wizard, and started to say out loud strange things, like the ones we heard Ichigo mutter from time to time. Ichigo jumped to his feet and left the classroom, looking extremely angry and for once, the parakeet was running away from him.

"Ichigo didn't show up until the day after that, and when he joined us at lunch, we couldn't help but notice that he was eating a very overcooked chicken…

"We don't think that was actually chicken."

Rukia stared at him, wide-eyed, "Um… excuse me." She got up and left towards the stairs, she closed the door to the rooftop behind her as she did.

Then she broke down in a fit of laughter unlike any she had had before.

How could she not? It was ridiculous, though they didn't really know it; they were making a big deal out of nothing. This was Kurosaki Ichigo, he'll destroy a thousand Hollows and not give a damn, but then you'll say there's something strange about his hair and he won't sleep for a week straight just thinking what the hell it was.

She'd know. She tried that already, and it worked.

It wasn't that he was narcissistic; it's just that Ichigo is the kind of person who looks more at the small things than the whole. Though that didn't mean he didn't keep an eye on everything.

And now this, this… situation with the bird. It probably just saw him doing Healing Kidō on some animal and got mad and sought retribution. Rukia was sure that whatever Ichigo had done to get rid of it, he didn't eat it. Probably used it on a Kidō experiment… and Kidō accidents aren't edible at all.

Then she laughed some more at that though, she really liked it here.

* * *

><p>"<em>This is driving me crazy"<em> Ichigo was sitting by a tree on the school grounds; he had just left behind his friends and the… bird.

"_Why don't you just do the same you did back then?"_

Ichigo scoffed "_I'm not talking about the bird. It's this infernal card."_

He was holding the Torn Card in his left hand, and looking at it intently as he channeled his Reiatsu into it.

"_What's wrong with it?"_

"_I don't know, and that's the problem. I've been filling it up with Spiritual Energy the whole day and it still keeps taking it."_

"_So? It's probably become a massive container; it's been four years of taking your ludicrous Reiatsu, after all."_

"_It's not just that. It's just that I can't feel it at all."_

"_Huh?"_

"_They energy is there, I can feel it. I can reach for it and use it for Kidō, but unless I'm actively using it, I can't feel the energy contained in it at all. Is as if something's blocking it off from my senses."_

"… _Interesting."_

"What's eating you?" Ichigo looked up, Rukia apparently followed him.

"Nothing, just thinking about things."

"So, I heard you have something against parakeets."

Ichigo twitched, "Whatever do you mean?" He really didn't want to take this right now.

"They told me about you and a certain bird last year."

"_Of course they'd tell her."_

"They also told me that they think you ate it."

"_What?" _

"_What?" _His sword was just as confused.

"What?"

"They saw you eating some chicken or similar avian creature the following day, and since the parakeet wasn't around anymore, they drew conclusions." Now she was snickering, and it only annoyed Ichigo.

…

"Ichigo?"

"Yes?"

"You didn't really eat that bird, did you?"

…

Rukia laughed again. Ichigo felt better now, he really liked that sound.

"_I'll worry about this later"_

* * *

><p>Urahara Kisuke was staring at… a wall in his store, he wasn't really <em>looking<em> at it, it just happened to be on the way while he was in deep thought.

"What's on your mind?"

Kisuke turned around, his loyal friend and companion Tsukabishi Tessai, former captain of the Kidō Corps was standing in the door frame, wearing an apron. He was a big guy, wearing sunglasses, a muscular body with a tan and what Kisuke would forever remember as the smoothest mustache to ever grace a face.

"I recognize that look, anyone who knows you does. You're thinking about something serious, aren't you?"

Kisuke closed his fan and smiled, he didn't really like being that easy to read (at least his friends said he was) but it felt good to have people who knew him that well and still remained around him.

"Just thinking about… a game."

Tessai almost snorted, Kisuke always thought of life as a game, and fancied himself a particularly good player. But this was serious, Tessai didn't have to wait for Kisuke to elaborate "I… can't help but think I've lost some cards. But I'm also not sure whether or not this is a bad thing."

"Oh?" Now he was really curious, the geta-wearing man always liked to be in control of a situation to minimize losses, that he lost some element in his plans would have driven him mad, normally.

"Or maybe, just maybe, those cards weren't mine to play with. There is probably one more player I hadn't noticed; perhaps it's a good thing he's joined the game, and with a hand that not even he knows about. Oh, but it's a good hand, I can tell. Probably a winner, if he plays it right." Kisuke was smiling now, while he seemed glad about something, it had a hint of sadness and perhaps nostalgia to it.

"Is it an ally or enemy?" Tessai knew what the answer would be, but Kisuke probably needed to say it to feel better about it.

"I guess… it depends on how I play my hand, really." He frowned in thought, and Tessai took that as his cue to leave. Kisuke would now begin to think about his next move, and probably wouldn't notice if a Menos crushed their home.

* * *

><p>"Huh? Chad, what's with the bandages?" Ichigo and Rukia heard the voice of Mizuiro asking as left school for the day.<p>

"A steel beam fell on top of my head and then a motorcyclist ran into me." Everyone stopped and stared, Chad just kept walking while holding the cage containing the parakeet. It was funny how none of the teachers said anything about it, probably the same reason they never said anything about Ichigo's bird.

They're kind of scary-looking.

"You're kidding right? A steel beam?" Tatsuki couldn't really buy that.

"Yes."

But their gigantic friend never lied, either.

"Rukia."

She turned from staring at Sado (and wondering what a motorcyclist was) and looked at Ichigo.

"What?"

"We might have a problem. Look at the bird."

"Ichigo, I know you have a problem with the bird, but that's not ground to-"

"No, you insufferable midget. I mean LOOK at it."

Rukia frowned, and decided to do as he said before smacking him (or try to) for the midget comment. "_Wait… that's not a bird."_ She berated herself for not noticing it before.

"Chad's probably not going to like it… but we have to do a soul burial on that bird." Rukia was whispering now as they waved good-bye to Orihime and Tatsuki, the red head was apparently going to stay at the tomboy's home tonight.

"_Konsō__, huh?"_

"_Come to think of it, you haven't performed any yet."_

"_I know. I haven't seen any Plus souls around, either, now that I think about it."_

"_Think the man in the bucket hat takes care of them?"_

"_Probably. But we have one now, I'll take care of it tonight."_

Ichigo nodded at Rukia, and Keigo chose that moment to notice that they were both leaving in the same direction; Ichigo would have given his nose a dose of elbow, but then shivered when he saw the look on Rukia's face.

"_No, don't you dare-"_

"Of course, Asano-san, we live in the same house, after all."

Silence, Mizuiro experimentally let a little button he had in his pocket hit the ground, everyone heard it. And then Keigo began hyperventilating.

"ICHIIIIIIGOOOOOOO! How could you? You live with the hot new student and didn't tell me, your best friend since forever about it? You're so mean!" Keigo's tirade (and his voice) slowly faded as Mizuiro dragged him away from Ichigo and Rukia while waving them good-bye.

"Why did you do that?" Ichigo sounded resigned.

"Whatever are you talking about?" Rukia batted her eyelashes; Ichigo didn't like the effect that had on him.

"Just- you…" He sighed "Nevermind, let's go home."

Rukia giggled, now _this_ is how she could get back at him for being… him.

* * *

><p>Ichigo and Rukia were now in his room, getting ready to get their homework done when they suddenly heard some loud noise coming from downstairs.<p>

When they both went down to check, they saw Yuzu and (surprisingly) Karin wearing the nurse dresses his father had ordered for them. That wasn't the only thing that got Ichigo's attention; it was the fact that they were both carrying a very bloody Yasutora Sado towards one of the clinic's beds.

"Chad? What happened?" Ichigo was worried; this was one of his best friends, after all.

"Car accident, clear the way!" Yelled the voice of Kurosaki Isshin as he ran to help his daughter put Sado on one of the beds.

"How can I help, dad?" Ichigo stepped towards the bed, but Isshin put a hand on his shoulder and shook his head.

"Lie on the ground in fetal position and stay out of the way."

"_What?"_

"_I like your father."_

"_Keep him, then."_

"_Hell no."_

He left the room, dragging Rukia with him before his father decided she'd look great in a nurse uniform. "_Come to think of it…"_

"_Pervert."_

"_Stuff it, you overgrown knife."_

He ran a hand over his long, orange locks, he'd sneak into the room later tonight – perhaps early in the morning, and help Chad with some of his own healing Kidō, not to heal him completely, since that would be extremely suspicious.

"_Yuzu would think he's the Superman or something."_

"_Mexican bootleg Superman?"_

He snorted, and Rukia looked at him funny. He just shook his head and Rukia understood. She once had an indirect conversation with Ichigo's Zanpakutō, with Ichigo as a mediator. The experience was worse than when she saw her friend Abarai Renji kiss what he thought at the moment was a woman. She almost threw up when an inebriated Renji kissed an extremely effeminate (but most definitely heterosexual) 11th division officer. She would never, ever, let him live it down, though.

"Chad's a tough guy; it'll take more than a car crash to do him in. That's not what's worrying me, though."

Rukia frowned and wracked her brain; she refused to count solely on Ichigo to assess every situation. She was more experienced, damn it.

"The parakeet?" Sado didn't have it with him, she realized.

"Not just the bird, stretch your senses."

Rukia sighed but did as she was told, then she felt it, very clearly.

"Hollow."

Ichigo nodded "This wasn't just a car crash, a Hollow was involved, and if the string of unfortunate events that Chad's been experiencing the whole day is any indication, this is not the first time the Hollow tries to get him."

"That doesn't make much sense, why would the Hollow go out of its way to torture Chad instead of just attacking him? That's what Hollows do; they're not exactly geniuses or evil masterminds."

"_Ichigo, what if he is? Maybe this is Chad's Lex Luthor."_

Ichigo slapped his forehead and Rukia didn't want to ask why.

"Let's look at the facts here, Rukia. Chad's been having indirect attacks on him, by what we believe is a Hollow. I can think of two reasons why this would happen."

"What?" Rukia was too damn curious to not ask now.

"This is either an extremely weak Hollow that can't even fight a human directly. Or…"

"Or…?"

"Come on Rukia, you can get this one, what's the other new factor that's come into the equation that you can think of?"

"_A new factor? Something changed? What's new with Chad…?"_ Her eyes widened.

"The bird!"

"Yes, that's the other reason. This thing could be targeting the bird, but there's also the fact that it's not doing so directly. The bird is something I can't account for. From the parakeet come a bunch of reasons this whole thing could be happening. However, our course of action has become clear now."

"We go after the bird, and get our answers, right?"

Ichigo smiled and nodded, it was the only course of action they could follow.

"We'll wait for Chad to wake up; I want to make sure he's fine and that the Hollow isn't really after him. Then we'll follow him so he leads us to the bird."

Rukia nodded, that was a sound plan.

"_Parakeets suck."_

"_You big baby."_

* * *

><p>Ichigo woke to someone hitting his chest – hard.<p>

"Onii-chan, wake up! We have a problem." It was Yuzu, and he had no idea she could actually hit anything that wasn't a door, and her knocking was still hard to hear.

"I'm up, I'm up, what is it?" Ichigo looked at his alarm clock, 2 A.M. Of course it had to be two in the goddamn morning.

"It's Sado-kun, he's gone! I was going to check on him – I was supposed to do it every two hours. But when I checked just a couple of minutes ago, he wasn't there!" Now she was tearing up, she was really sensitive.

"Calm down, I'm sure he's okay. Where's Karin?" They normally took shifts watching over patients in Chad's condition.

"Karin's been feeling bad since Sado-kun arrived yesterday, which makes me wonder if it was the blood and…" Ichigo tuned her out for a second "_Karin… could it be…?"_ He put that thought away with reluctance; he had something else to worry about.

"Onii-chan, where's Rukia-nee-san? Shouldn't she be sleeping with you?"

Ichigo heard a barely audible thump from his closet, which Yuzu thankfully failed to notice. "She's probably using the bathroom. Go wake up dad, I'll get dressed and get Rukia."

Yuzu nodded and left. As soon as the door to Ichigo's room closed, the closet's door opened and out came Rukia, fully dressed and seemingly annoyed.

"You're gonna have to lock your door from now on, they might get suspicious."

"Dad's gonna get even more insufferable if he sees that I need to lock my door."

Rukia rolled her eyes, Ichigo did not appreciate the effort she put into coming up with her plan to live in his house with permission – it really wasn't all that much, but still.

"Where do you think Chad is?" Rukia turned around and faced the wall as Ichigo got dressed. Ichigo didn't mind if she – or anyone, actually – looked, but Rukia still got quite red whenever he walked into his room with a towel. And only a towel.

"I have no idea, but my guess is that the Hollow won't be far from him – or the parakeet, which I suspect is what Chad's looking for. So if we keep our senses stretched and find the Hollow…"

"Then we find Chad and the bird!" Rukia turned around as she finished her sentence, and was surprisingly disappointed to see Ichigo was now fully clothed and handing her the skull-adorned glove.

"We go talk to dad and Yuzu first, and then we pretend to go out and instead climb back into my room. You know the rest." It wasn't the first time they did something like this, Rukia had yet to use the Gikongan and Ichigo made sure it wasn't necessary, he didn't trust an artificial soul with his body. He'd only take it if there was truly no other choice.

"Let's go."

* * *

><p>Isshin left to look for Sado along with Ichigo and Rukia, though they had only walked a few yards away before turning around and entering through Ichigo's window back into his room, where Rukia pulled his Shinigami form out of his body.<p>

They were now running along the dark skies of Karakura, or at least Ichigo was, Rukia was riding on his back.

"Feel anything yet?" Ichigo asked his companion "Nothing, keep heading north, then we'll check west."

Ichigo nodded and kept running, sword in hand, he'd put the thing on his back where it would hang on apparently nothing, but it was currently occupied by the Shinigami girl.

"Ichigo, I sense something!" Ichigo stopped.

"What is it?"

"North-east from here."

"There's a construction site that way, are you sensing the Hollow?"

"No, but I'm feeling the bird. Chad is probably with it."

"_This is a new kind of Hollow, it seems."_

"_A Hollow that can hide its presence… I wonder what other kinds there are. You'll have to plan for more contingencies than we originally believed, Ichigo."_

"_Don't remind me."_

* * *

><p>They found Chad sitting against a wall with the bird's cage in front of him; Ichigo and Rukia hid their presences as best they could. They would wait for the Hollow to make an appearance and then Ichigo would strike it down.<p>

Then they heard the parakeet talking, further confirming their initial suspicions about its nature.

It told Chad a rather sad story, about how every owner that's ever taken care of it has had horrid luck, and Ichigo had to resist laughing at Chad's deadpan 'I know.'

Then two things happened.

One, a garbage can was knocked over by a very pale-looking Karin, who was calling out Ichigo's name.

Two, a Hollow jumped down on Chad and the bird's cage.

Ichigo couldn't react, he would have destroyed the Hollow by now, but his sister was there and he just had to put himself between her and the Hollow.

"Ichi-Nii… I'm not sure how, but I knew I'd find you here."

Ichigo closed his eyes "_So she can see me."_ He didn't like this, not one bit.

He heard a crash and saw that Chad had somehow dodged a swipe from the Hollow, who then chased after his running form.

Ichigo looked at where Rukia was hiding; she nodded towards him and started chasing the Hollow. Ichigo knew she wouldn't put herself in danger for no reason.

"Karin, what're you doing here?" He knelt down and picked her up, she was sweating and breathing hard.

"I had to tell you, Ichigo… that bird with Sado-san… it's not a normal bird."

"_Karin's awfully perceptive; she managed to feel my presence and to detect the true nature of the bird."_

"_Quite strange that she'd be capable of this, she's been denying the existence of ghosts forever, even if she could see them."_

"Not just that, Ichigo… it's a little boy, and he… he feels like you did back then."

"Huh?"

"He's… He's lost his mother to a horrible creature, and it has been tormenting him ever since."

Ichigo's eyes widened, and he had to use a great deal of self-control to not tighten his hold on his sister, he didn't want to hurt her. This creature, this monster had taken the life of the parakeet's – no, the boy's mother. And even now continued to torture him.

"_This Hollow shows intelligence. Greater than that of the first Hollow I faced. Hollows are supposed to be mindless, but this one has a set of skills of its own."_

"_Yet more to prepare for. At least we'll keep busy."_

"You'll be alright Karin, close your eyes, I'll take you home."

He had no time to waste, he had to take her home and get back to Rukia, so he used Shunpō to get Karin home and into her bed before he ran back outside and started to feel for Rukia.

He frowned, he could feel her, and that was strange. She was outside the usual range of his senses, and she was the only thing she could feel outside of them.

"_That's so sweet; I can make some candy with it, if you want."_

"_Shut up. I'll dwell on that later."_

He arrived at the location she could feel Rukia at, and she was firing Kidō at the Hollow. It wasn't even feeling her attacks, not because it was strong, but because her attacks seemed rather… weak, which troubled Ichigo, he was sure her attacks had been stronger the last month.

"**A Shinigami girl, weak, but no matter. A Shinigami soul is a Shinigami soul."** The Hollow bellowed and turned its attention from a passed-out Chad and the bird cage towards Rukia.

That was his cue.

Ichigo flashed between Rukia and the Hollow, and pointed his sword at it "Hey, ugly. Before I tear you a new asshole, I need you to answer a question." Rukia could see Ichigo was strangely angry, though he hid it well.

"**Oh? Another one? How lucky! I've already eaten two Shinigami that have tried to save this boy, he has certainly been useful."**

Ichigo nodded inwardly, that explained some things "Tell me, were you the one who killed this boy's mother?" His hair was now shadowing his eyes, and his anger was building up.

"**Hmmm? Oh, yes. My last kill while I lived. I was a serial killer, you see."**

"_He remembers his own past as a living being as well."_

"**The boy's mother was my last victim, but then the boy made me take a rather big fall. So as a way to pay me back for killing me, I took his soul and stuck it into the body of a bird. I eat anyone who becomes his owner, and eat any Shinigami that come to give him a Soul Burial."**

Rukia understood Ichigo's anger now, the nature of the Hollow and its actions made it almost personal to him.

"I see." Ichigo now nodded towards the Hollow.

"**Are you resigning yourself to your fate, Shinigami? That's wise, unlike-"**

"You really talk a lot, don't you? I just wanted to make sure about where you'll go when I'm done. That's all."

Before the Hollow could even react to that statement, Ichigo was right in front of it, with his sword held back and about to swing. The sword suddenly burst into flame "Houou no Kizu (Phoenix's Cut)" He slashed the Hollow.

The Hollow didn't even scream, the sword split its face in half and the incredibly hot flames made short work of turning the rest of its body to ashes.

Ichigo landed and jumped back as he saw (not for the first time) the doors of Hell appear and open up before them, chains appeared from within and dragged the screaming and swearing soul of the serial killer to his punishment.

Ichigo sighed, and turned towards Rukia "Are you hurt?"

Rukia shook her head, she was sad, not just because she had been useless, but also because she had never seen Ichigo hurt like that before "_It must have been a painful reminder."_

Ichigo nodded and turned towards the bird cage and his unconscious friend, he kneeled and did a quick Kidō work to heal Chad's wounds. When he was satisfied he turned towards the bird.

"I'm sorry." The bird sounded genuinely sorry.

"That's okay; it's not your fault. If there's any victim here it's you."

"But still, your friend-"

"Say, would you like to see your mother again?"

The bird cocked its head and somehow pulled off a hopeful look.

"Here," Ichigo opened the cage "I'll send you with her." He gave the bird a light touch with his sword's pommel.

The effect was instantaneous, the bird started glowing and soon a boy's soul came out of it "My name's Yūichi Shibata. Thanks a lot, Shinigami-san!" Ichigo smiled at the fading soul and the bird whose body it had been occupying flew off.

"Rukia?"

"Yes, Ichigo?"

"Can… Can you please take care of the rest? It's… it's raining."

Rukia wasn't sure what he was talking about, but she got the feeling behind it.

"I've got it, don't worry."

Ichigo just nodded and left, he had many things to think about, but that could wait until the weather got better.

"_Ichigo?"_

…

"_I hate rain."_

* * *

><p>That's a wrap for this one.<p>

This one took longer than usual, mostly because I kept scrapping it since it didn't feel right, and even now I'm not sure I'm happy with how it turned out.

I won't be doing every single Bleach episode, I'm just going to do some that I feel are necessary, this was one of them. I was going to initially have Chad participate a lot more, but then I remembered that the purpose of this chapter is to put more things into Ichigo's mind – this is some necessary development. This is also the same reason I didn't pack much humor into it, I actually put some jokes away because of this (That was painfully hard to do). I hope you enjoyed it anyways.

Things pick up next chapter, I promise.

Edit: I forgot to put this in. Some of you may or may not have noticed that I skipped Orihime and her brother. There's a reason for that. I figured that since her brother realized Orihime was safe, then he'd be able to move on (he moved on while Orihime still prayed for him everyday). Ichigo's declaration about protecting her is what moved him to do this.

- Flameal out.


	8. Chapter seven Make the Hatter Cry

Disclaimer: KHAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNN!

EDIT: Chapter edited and fixed as of the 12/16/12 update. Pretty sure I missed stuff, should get a beta reader.

This chapter is brought to you by the most awful video-game movie adaptation ever.

The First Guardian

Chapter Seven – You'd make the Mad Hatter cry

Ishida Uryū was a very patient person. He was skilled with his hands, and he would combine his skills with his patience to create articles of clothing of the greatest quality. He took pride in being capable of taking measure of anyone's body with just a glance and applying the measurements to any work he decided to try.

He was also level-headed. He always planned ahead, and in dire situations he would always stay calm and assess all possibilities along with pros and cons.

He was proud, of both his skills and his own behavior, and it reflected on his tall posture with his head held high and serene face.

Yes, Ishida was very content with his own person.

Then Kurosaki Ichigo came along.

That guy, he managed in a single day to take down everything Ishida prided himself in. His cool-head? He managed to infuriate him like nothing else (except maybe his father) ever had. And his skills? Kurosaki beat him without even using his sword.

It was safe to say that Kurosaki Ichigo drove him mad.

But then there was the riddle behind the orange veil of hair, the guy was not stupid by any stretch of the word – nevermind his bouts of strange behavior, those failed to hide the brains behind the eyes.

After his humiliating defeat, Ishida, albeit reluctantly, followed the Shinigami's advice and cleared his head before putting some thought into both his actions and that of his enemy.

He had been reckless, and fought an enemy infuriated while said enemy kept a cool head. He had not taken into account any of the Kurosaki Shinigami's strengths, and did not think of any countermeasures other than 'stay away from the sharp hunk of metal'.

The Shinigami had alluded to something else, and Ishida admitted that perhaps he could have handled it better if he had put himself in Ichigo's position first.

He had said he would protect the girl no matter what. This brought to light the fact that Ishida had been wrong about his motivations. He figured that the guy was fighting Hollows on principle, or perhaps mere survival; after all, he had a very notable spiritual pressure, so Hollows would be attracted to him like cows to barbed-wire fences. To the same results, too.

Hah, stupid cows.

Perhaps his motives were far more altruistic? Where they more like that of the Quincy people? Did he want to protect something, someone or everyone? Uryū couldn't focus on his homework like this; he needed to find out just what made the new Shinigami tick. He could always try a direct approach, but that would probably involve him apologizing, and the day he did that would be the day the Shinigami Captain-Commander bowed and apologized to Ishida. Maybe he should actually give the guy a chance?

That was about as likely as-

Wait, what?

There was a knock on his window, and he turned from his desk to see just what was-

"What the fuck?" Ishida wasn't one to swear, but looking at the situation, who could blame him?

Out there, hanging upside-down and with a deadpan look on his face was Kurosaki Ichigo, dressed in his black Shinigami uniform and knocking on his window as if it was his apartment door.

It was with great incredulity that he opened his window. The Shinigami immediately jumped into his room.

"What the hell are you doing here?" His tone was hostile, though not as much as he'd want it to, blame the surprise for that.

"Well hello to you too, how was your day? Mine was great, I met this Karaoke singer who looked an awful lot like you, and it was a woman, by the way."

And now his surprise faded and let the rest of his anger show, "This is an illegal entrance!"

"Nuh-uh" The look on Kurosaki's was that of an obstinate child.

"Yes it is!" And Uryū was annoyed he was actually having this conversation.

"Nuh-uh, you opened your window, you let me in. Be glad I didn't just phase through the wall, I could have caught you busy with yourself or something." Ichigo visibly shuddered.

"How did you get this address?" Ishida was shouting now.

"I- Uh… Asked Orihime, yeah. She knew where you lived so-"

"I know Inoue-san, but she doesn't know where I live. Stop lying, Kurosaki!"

Ichigo looked like a kid caught shaving his neighbor's cat. With a flamethrower.

"… Did you steal this information by sneaking into the school records, Kurosaki?"

"Stealing is such a strong word…"

Ishida palmed his face, thankful he had taken off his glasses. What the hell is up with this guy? He took a few deep breaths, he had promised himself he'd give the Shinigami a chance, painful as that was. His anger faded a bit.

"Just… What do you want?" He was resigned to his fate.

"I needed to ask you something."

Ishida raised an eyebrow, maybe this was the chance he wanted to see just what this guy's trick was.

"Yes?"

"Oh yeah" Ichigo dug into his left, and only, sleeve and took out something that he held to Ishida's face.

It was a thin, rectangular object, with a metallic sheen to it – perhaps it was indeed, made of some metal or alloy. And it had the word 'card' engraved on it.

"Tell me what you see here." Ichigo asked honestly, if a bit eager.

"It's… a card."

"Well, duh. Anything else?"

Now Uryū frowned, was there something he was missing? He reached with his senses, and was surprised. The card itself was right in front of him, but as an object he could not feel it at all, almost as if it was too far away to get a reading on it.

"What is this?"

"See, I'm not sure. This is what I used to purify Hollow souls instead of destroying them before I – well, you know," Ichigo shrugged "But now it's become something else, and I'm not sure what. Can you feel anything, I don't know, spiritual in it?"

"No… not really."

"Oh." Ichigo felt silent while contemplating this development. And Ishida took that as his chance to ask him his own questions, but Ichigo interrupted him again.

"That's a strange painting on your wall."

Ishida turned to look at the wall in question, except it wasn't a wall, it was just his closet and there was no painting hanging on it.

"What're you talking a-" The Shinigami was gone.

Ishida growled in frustration, what the fuck was that all about?

Screw giving him a chance, he was going to get stronger and then he was going to put an arrow through his face.

* * *

><p>"<em>What the hell has this thing become?"<em>

"_Well, Ichigo, look at it this way. When we do find out what it is, it'll probably turn into a nifty Deus Ex Machina device."_

"_What would I want that for?"_

"_You're the hero; you're supposed to pull new things out of your ass now and then to make your life interesting."_

"_I thought that was to beat the bad guys?"_

"_As I said, interesting. Come to think of it, we don't have a bad guy as of yet."_

"_What are the Hollows, chopped liver?"_

"_Cannon fodder."_

"_That's harsh. Don't let them hear you say that, what if they have a syndicate or something?"_

"_I'll worry about anything related to the Hollows the day I see one that can actually scratch you when you're at your best."_

"_Thanks for the ego boost."_

"_Don't let it go to your head, moron."_

* * *

><p>Ichigo wanted to get a few things done this weekend, alone. So Rukia had to stay home.<p>

Unfortunately, this also meant it would be suspicious for her to be around without Ichigo, so they had to use that Gikongan they got from Urahara.

Well, it behaved decently, so that was some consolation.

* * *

><p>"I still don't understand how you guys can trust some other being with your bodies."<p>

"They're not our bodies, they're gigai. And you may be a special case, but you have to do things the same way we do, so suck it up." Rukia left no room for argument there.

"Fine, give me that thing." Rukia handed him the sphere containing the artificial soul, and with some reluctance he swallowed it.

This was different. Instead of being pulled out of his body through one point as it was with Rukia's glove, he felt himself being pushed out of it from behind.

He eyed his body, which was standing; he had never seen it from outside doing that. His body opened its eyes and looked around, and once he saw Ichigo standing in front of him, it took a firm posture and saluted, "Shinigami-sama! Pleasure to meet you, this one will take care of your body while you're absent with fault, sir!"

Ichigo eyed it once more, he noticed Rukia doing the same, though she had a frown in her face as she did it.

"Very well, he seems decent enough. You sure you don't wanna go out with the girls today or something, Rukia?"

Rukia looked strangely at his body and then looked towards Ichigo once more, "It wouldn't be the same without – err, without being at school. Besides, there is… something off, can't say for sure though." And she was thinking about something again.

Ichigo shrugged, "Suit yourself, I'm going. Take care."

Rukia looked at Ichigo's retreating form through his room's window for a while, then turned around to face the-

"Where did he go?"

Then she heard it, faint, coming from the opposite direction Ichigo had left. She heard a very, very gleeful yell of "FREEEEEDOOOOOOM!" and her stomach dropped.

"I knew something was off!" So she jumped out the window, rounded the house, and ran after the direction she figured the strange Gikongan in Ichigo's body had taken.

* * *

><p>Ichigo should have probably asked her to elaborate a little bit. He was glad she'd at least be safe at home, but he wasn't sure it was truly safe to leave her alone anywhere with his dad in it. What if he actually gets her a nurse uniform?<p>

"_You know you want to get her one yourself."_

He rolled his eyes as he arrived at the location he was planning to spend the rest of his day at, Urahara-Shōten.

"_Today is going to be an interesting day."_

"Hey, Bucket-man!" Ichigo called out. The door to the shop opened immediately, almost as if they were expecting him.

"Hello, Ichigo-san! Welcome to my humble shop! How can I be of service to you today?"

"Where you waiting behind the door for anyone to come?"

"Why would you say that, Ichigo-san?" The man got a funny look on his face and hid it behind his fan.

"I think you do that to open the door immediately and check on your would-be customer's reaction."

"That's ridiculous."

"_I know. That's why I think you'd do just that."_

"_The man needs a hobby."_

"Anyways, Geta-guy, I was wondering if you could help me with something." This was the hard part.

"Oh, and what is it that you think I could be of help with?" Now the man was interested.

"I need to train." Ichigo now had a serious look, and his scowl somehow deepened as he looked Urahara in the face.

"And why do you think I could be of any help with that? I am just a humble shopkeeper."

"I just need someplace to train at without messing up the town, and I figured you'd probably know if there's a place like that in Karakura."

"Messing up the town? Just what do you have in mind that you think you'd need such a place? You've been doing fine on your own."

"I haven't trained in my Shikai."

Urahara stopped fanning himself for a second, he had nearly forgotten. The kid knows the name of his sword, and apparently has since he got it. That link between the boy and his Zanpakutō was something that interested Kisuke greatly. It was unprecedented, after all. So perhaps this was a chance to find out more?

"Come with me." He turned and walked into his shop.

"_Bingo."_

Ichigo nodded and walked after the shop keeper.

* * *

><p>"Holy shit! Who put a place so big down here? How it this possible?"<p>

The basement was big, scratch that, enormous. It had rock and dirt as floor, a fake sky and Ichigo could not begin to see the other end from the entrance.

But that's not what had him twitching; it was that the one who exclaimed all of that was Urahara Kisuke himself.

"_What the hell is up with this guy?"_

"So, what do you think, Ichigo? Think it's enough?"

Ichigo knew it was enough, but he still made a show of pretending to take a look to make sure of it.

"… Yeah, I guess it'll do."

"Excellent, do you wish for us to start now?"

"Us? I was planning to train alone."

Urahara smiled "Oh? I thought you wanted me to help?"

Ichigo just shrugged "You're giving me a place to train, that's plenty of help."

"And what do I get in exchange? You want to train in MY basement, and then you want me to give you some privacy, surely you don't think I'll do that for free."

"_He didn't have a problem when he thought he was going to train you."_

"_I know. He's interested in me. Let's see what I can do with that."_

"_I'd rather be worried about what HE can do with that. He's a known molester by now, stay the hell away from him."_

"_Are you ever gonna let that go?"_

"_It was HIM that wouldn't let go of me."_

Ichigo frowned, however. The next part was actually harder than asking for help had been, he still wasn't sure he wanted to trust this guy.

"… I'll owe you one favor." Ichigo grunted.

Urahara smiled deviously "One favor? Make it two favors, and we have a deal."

Ichigo gritted his teeth, but he figured some sacrifices are necessary "Deal. But I can use this place whenever I want for the rest of the year."

"Next couple of months; we'll see what we work out from there."

Ichigo nodded, that was fair enough. Though he had a feeling he'd be kicking himself later.

"Alright, then. Have fun!" The shop keeper said cheerfully as he went back upstairs to his shop.

"_That… I'm not sure how that went."_

"_I guess it depends on who you ask. I feel the future you will say it went horrible."_

"_I'll burn that bridge to the ground when I get there."_

"_Good, now about that release phrase…"_

* * *

><p>Kisuke was sitting happily on the closed trapdoor that led to his basement, he was just bidding his time to go down and turn in one of the favors Ichigo now owed him. It wouldn't be so hard; he figured Ichigo needed it for his body as much as Kisuke's peace of mind did at that moment.<p>

The place shook with an explosion, "_The kid is working really hard, if the explosions are anything to go by."_ He wondered what that was all about, was his Zanpakutō a Kidō type? He didn't think it sane for a Zanpakutō to blow things up with a swing. Or was he just practicing Kidō? Maybe, but he had said he needed to practice using his Shikai, so that ruled it out.

It was really starting to bother him to not know nearly enough about Kurosaki Ichigo, though apparently his blade was to blame for the lack of information on its name and abilities. He couldn't blame Ichigo for that, some Zanpakutō can b e a bit… weird. "_Though if his Zanpakutō is nearly as interesting as Ichigo is…"_ He shuddered at that.

"_Oh well, it has been two hours, should be enough time for him to get a bit exhausted."_

"Tessai! Ururu! Jinta! Come over here, I have something I need some help with! And Tessai, be a dear and bring the stairway."

"_At least it'll be fun."_

* * *

><p>Ichigo was beginning to sweat; he had finished training using his Shikai thirty minutes ago, and was now using his somehow larger amounts of spiritual energy to practice on some Kidō. Mostly just to check how much power he needed for some of them.<p>

The bigger explosions he could cause now had absolutely nothing to do with it.

He was about to begin a new incantation when he heard his name being called.

"Ichigo-san! Please come over here a moment!"

Ichigo frowned, he had asked for privacy; hopefully it wouldn't take too long. He walked over with his now-re-sealed Zanpakutō over his right shoulder and an annoyed look.

"What do you want, Geta-weirdo?" He now noticed the shop keeper wasn't alone, he had those two kids who helped clean around the store and a big guy, probably about Chad's height, though not nearly as big, and with an amazing mustache.

"_We should try growing a mustache."_

"_You know all facial hair you get looks like a just-entering-puberty girl's-"_

"_Yeah, yeah. Don't have to be a dick about it, though."_

As usual, Kisuke wasn't offended in the slightest by one of Ichigo's nickname for him, "I figured you'd be done with your Shikai now, and was wondering if you'd accept some help with some other… things."

Ichigo scoffed, "I don't need your-"

"Before you turn me down, note that I'm calling one of the markers you gave me."

"_He's got you there."_

"_That makes no sense. How is helping me a favor for him?"_

"_I believe I made my point about this before."_

"_You had no point whatsoever."_

"_Hmph."_

"… Very well. What do you have in mind?"

"Excellent!" Urahara signaled to Tessai, who nodded and walked past Ichigo and put what looked like a small pyramid on the ground.

Then the object started glowing, and growing. It kept growing until it was the size of a 3 story building and about a block wide.

"What the hell is that?"

It WAS a pyramid, kind of. It had a flat top and its walls were just stairs. Now that he looked at it that way, it looked more like a stairway.

"It's a stairway."

Ichigo snorted, "Of course it's a stairway, what else could it be?"

"It could be an alien ship."

Ichigo decided to switch the subject.

"What is it for?"

"To go up and down, duh."

"Why would I want to do that?"

"Training, of course."

"_He's doing the same thing we do. Hit him, Ichigo."_

"Just give me the whole explanation already!"

Urahara smiled, he was finally getting the kid to react, "Well, the instant you touch that stairway, your energy will begin draining. The purpose for this is not to make you tired faster; I don't see how that would help, but to put your energy out of balance."

Ichigo raised an eyebrow "Why would I need that?"

"If it's harder to get a hold of your energy, then when you finally do it without a handicap it should be a lot easier. You'll be running up and down this stairway, so that you'll train yourself physically as well. While you do that, you'll be using Kidō, more specifically, Hadō to hit two barriers that Tessai will place both at the bottom of the stairway and at the top. The deal is that you'll try to shatter those barrier, when you manage it, then we'll know your control over your energy has improved. Then we'll place a better barrier."

Ichigo's eyes had gone wide, that was actually a pretty good method, if a bit strange.

"_But since when do I do normal?"_

"_You don't do anything. At this pace I fear you'll die a virgin."_

"_Shut up."_

"That sounds… alright. When do we get started?"

"As soon as you start running up the stairwell. Oh, I don't think it necessary to point out that you can't use Shunpō during this."

Ichigo nodded and began running at a relaxed pace, when he was halfway up the stairway he felt a Kidō barrier appear behind him, he looked back and saw it spanned the whole stairway, "_He's good."_

He looked up and saw the other barrier appear, with the man, Tessai, standing behind it and looking stern.

Ichigo began an incantation, and felt that his energy was being very slowly drained through his whole legs, even when he wasn't stepping on the stairway. It took him a bit to get a hold of it, but when he did he fired the first thing that came to mind, "Hadō #4: Byakurai!" He pointed his fingers at the top barrier, but the lightning that came out of them barely made if fizzle a little bit.

This wouldn't be easy at all.

He was running back downstairs and began getting ready to fire again when suddenly the hair in the back of his head stood up; he jumped to one side and felt how the ground he was previously standing on exploded, bits of stairway flying everywhere.

"What the fuck?"

Where he was previously standing now stood Ururu, the little girl that worked in the shop. Not just that, but judging by her position she had just caused that explosion with just her fist.

"Get ready." She spoke in her gentle voice, though now it had a bit of a drone to it, and leapt at him with her fist cocked back, ready to make his ribcage cave in.

Ichigo leapt back once again, but then felt a huge _something_ slam against his right side and send him up towards the top of the stairway.

The red-haired kid, Jinta, stood where he had been with a smug-look on his face, and an enormous spiked bat made out of metal.

"_Shit, now what?"_

"Ichigo-san! I forgot to mention, Ururu and Jinta will provide as much distraction as possible to keep you on your toes, and you'll have to learn to think faster! Oh, and you're not allowed to use your Shikai or your sword or attack them in any way! Think of it as 'Hard Mode' Ichigo-san! Oh, and don't worry about the stairway, it fixes itself in a few seconds!" He looked really cheery as he said it.

Ichigo stood up and felt for his ribs, there was now only a bruise, his regeneration had kicked in.

"_He's fucking crazy!"_

"_He make sense, though – DODGE! – As I was saying, you've made it a habit of thinking too much during a fight."_

"_That's never been a problem!" _He ducked under a swing of Jinta's bat only to get punched in the chest by Ururu.

"_Because so far you've been curb-stomping all of your enemies in seconds. You haven't had a long fight against strong multiple opponents. Sometimes you have to react before you think. Bucket-guy has the right idea; he's training you to react faster and better. You still have to take down those barriers as well."_

Ichigo jumped far from Ururu and prepared to use a Shakkahō on the lower barrier when suddenly Jinta hit him with the bat from behind.

"_Hard Mode indeed."_

* * *

><p>Ichigo felt completely defeated, he had not managed to bring down either of the barriers after five hours of trying to. His only consolation is that he got his less and less often by the two kids – no, demons, as the time went by.<p>

"_What the hell did he feed those kids?"_

"_Interested?"_

"_Have to keep Karin away from it."_

He was lying on his back on the bottom of the stairwell, breathing heavier than he could remember ever doing. Urahara was sitting cross-legged on the floor close to his head, fanning himself and nodding.

"Ichigo-san, remarkable progress so far! But I'm afraid we'll have to end it here for today."

Ichigo protested, "No, just… just give me a couple of minutes, I'll be ready for another go then."

Urahara kept his smile on and stood up "That's not it, Ichigo-san. While I'm pretty sure you really need to get your pride back after being kicked around by two kids," Ichigo twitched, "I'm afraid that we must end it today because Kuchiki-san has come to pick you up."

Ichigo couldn't hide the surprised look on his face "What?"

"I said, Kuchiki-san has come to-"

"No, I mean. She shouldn't even know-"

"Ichigo!"

Rukia was walking towards them, looking as if she had somehow channeled Arisawa Tatsuki, stomping on the ground. She looked disheveled, and she was dragging something – wait, his body? Yeah, she was dragging his body behind her. Ichigo sat up.

"Rukia? What the hell happened to you? What're you doing with my body? And how the hell did you find me?"

Rukia glared at him and Ichigo almost felt the force of the glare physically push him back.

"Your Reiatsu is easy to spot; I could feel it all the way across Karakura."

Kisuke got a calculating look on his face that went ignored by the two, "_Ah, I suspected it would be like that."_ He didn't feel the need to point out that his basement was designed so that no one could feel any Reiatsu in it from the outside.

"That's straying from the point!" She turned her angry look to Kisuke, who involuntarily took a step back, "You! You gave us that Gikongan! It wasn't an artificial soul at all! It was a mod-soul! Those are illegal, and dangerous! How could you?"

Kisuke was beginning to sweat "_This isn't exactly going as planned."_

Ichigo tuned out Rukia's tirade for a bit as he examined his body, it was sprawled on the ground looking as if it had been run over by a train, which he figured was because Rukia had a go at it. It also reeked of… alcohol? He noted with interest that yes - that was a very strong scent of alcohol coming from his body. There wasn't any damage on the body proper, though his clothes looked to be beyond all repair, he figured his body had regenerated. It was knocked out cold with a goofy look that looked completely out of place on Ichigo's face. His hair was perfect, he noted with relief.

"He broke into a bank's security safe! He consumed enough liquor to kill several men! There were several women looking to get restriction orders on him! I finally caught him – oh and you wouldn't guess where – in a whore house! Of all the horrible, disgusting places! If I had not gotten there in time, who knows what would have happened with Ichigo's virtue!"

Kisuke was trying not to laugh. Oh, he was terrified, alright. But the events that the mod-soul had been through were just too much.

"Do you have any idea how many memories I had to modify? At least half of the city's police force was after him! Ichigo would be facing who knows how long in your human world's jails if I hadn't gotten there in time!"

Rukia kept on and on for a good ten minutes, and when she finished, she looked a lot less flustered, but still incredibly angry.

"Well?" Rukia asked, still glaring holes into Kisuke's fan over his face."

"Well what, Rukia-san?"

"What do you intend to do about this? You gave us a faulty product! I demand a refund!"

"I gave it to you for free, Rukia-san."

"Then I think you should at least take it back and give us-"

"Nonsense."

Rukia lost all the wind on her sails, and turned around at Ichigo with an incredulous look.

"What do you mean nonsense?"

"I mean that only nonsense is coming out of your word-hole, Rukia."

"What the- of all the- just- what?" She seemed to have trouble making her tongue do what she wanted it to do.

"I am completely satisfied with the product, so I believe I will be keeping it."

"What?"

"Ah, very good! It pleases me greatly to hear that, Ichigo-san."

Ichigo nodded and picked up his body – there was no way in hell he was going into it during the next twenty-four hours, he knew all about hangovers.

"I and this fellow here will get along just fine. Let's go Rukia."

"_He'll need a name, Ichigo."_

"_We'll give it some thought when we get home."_

Rukia stood still for a moment, as if her brain was still mid-reboot. Then she took a deep breath, and walked after Ichigo while resuming her tirade, except this time it was aimed at the orange-haired lunatic.

Kisuke smiled as he saw them leave, then went to pick up the training equipment as he hummed a happy song.

"_My, what a very entertaining couple those customers of mine turned out to be."_

* * *

><p>Cut!<p>

The movie I'm talking about is Street Fighter – any of them. They all suck so badly I almost felt my soul rot a little as I watched them.

This chapter was going to be longer at first, but I had to take a scene away simply because it felt out of place, that threw it out of whack a little bit so I had to do some editing. It would have been out sooner otherwise.

Before an observant nitpicker asks why Ichigo didn't feel Rukia as she went to the shop, I'll just say he was too damn tired to notice his own feet. So, yeah.

Yep, that's Kon everybody. There are times in which he's really annoying as a character in canon, but I find it hard to not like the little fella.

Leave me a review with your thoughts, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I know I did, it was rather fun to write.

- Flameal out.


	9. Chapter eight Music and Rain

Disclaimer: I wrote a song about how I don't own Bleach. It was immediately scrapped on grounds of being a safety hazard.

EDIT: Chapter edited and fixed as of the 12/16/12 update. Pretty sure I missed stuff, should get a beta reader.

This chapter is brought to you by metric fucktons of instant noodles!

The First Guardian

Chapter Eight – Music and a Particular Lack of Rain.

There were several things that made her happy. And very, very few things that could make her angry or sad.

Rukia thought herself fairly simple, even though she was from a noble family and a lot was expected of her, she always believed she could sum herself up to 'serious hard worker with a slight sense of humor'.

The warm sun in the mornings when she allowed herself to sleep in made her happy. A nice breakfast not too soon after waking up but not too late either made her feel great. Not taking much time to pick out her clothes by having the perfect outfit for the day ready since the night before (and lately, she was picking out someone else's outfits, too), made her feel efficient. When at work, a single cut through a Hollow's Mask with minimal effort was her norm, and she felt very professional when she did it fast and without hesitation.

Being professional also made her happy.

Then there were the other things – things outside of her own behavior that made her happy. Her adoptive older brother, while distant and somewhat cold (so she was understating things, so what? Being biased towards your family is normal), made her feel immense pride whenever she saw him and thought of just how she was related to him now. Her own captain constantly praised her achievements, and his approval was just another reason for her to push herself to be better at what she did.

Once, her Nii-sama had seen her training with her Shikai, and while he had not shown any sort of surprise at her skills, she could tell he was impressed and pleased. The look and the nod he gave her as he left the premises made her feel happy for months.

As for the things that made her angry… well, she wouldn't fool herself thinking she didn't have a temper. Living in the Rukongai with Abarai Renji ensured that she get violently mad on a nearly daily basis. But she was a Kuchiki, she had to keep her cool and think things through before caving someone's skull in with her fists just because that person was being annoying. So she could say that she controlled her anger.

As for being sad, she could only recall a few moments in her life that she could qualify as being sad. When a person she admired, Shiba Kaien… passed away, for lack of need to elaborate, she felt crushed; she didn't think she would ever recover from that, especially considering the circumstances surrounding the incident. And before that, she was separated from her friends at the Shinigami Academy, including Renji, when she was taken in by the Kuchiki clan.

Right now, the circumstances surrounding her life changed tremendously – not even in her wildest dreams could she have seen changes of this magnitude. She pondered this as she lay with her face buried in a pillow with a scent that she really liked, on a bed that wasn't even hers, in the room of the person in the middle of all the changes.

For once, she was no longer in Soul Society – but that was something she had come to terms with when she accepted the short-term (for a Shinigami) assignment to Karakura Town. Then she thought of the fact that she had lost her powers – living for a while without them had made her accept it without mourning much, so she couldn't say that this should make her depressed.

Not anymore, at least.

But then the next set of circumstances came to mind: She was going to be labeled a criminal, persecuted and subsequently executed by none other than the person whose approval she once wanted the most.

She laughed into the pillow, for two reasons, both filled with equal parts incredulity and surprise.

One, for some reason, her Nii-sama's approval looked so… unimportant now. She was now experiencing bigger things – things that made her get a wider perspective of her own world, and most of all, realize whose approval mattered the most to her.

Her own approval came first in the order of priority, and then, surprisingly, the orange-topped lunatic's.

And number two, in a small part of her mind she had ignored until now, she believed that all of it – the bad circumstances and the worst that had yet to come – was completely worth it.

And once again, it was because of Kurosaki Ichigo.

She was done crying at how unfair it was that now that she had an inkling of what she wanted the most, it was probably going to be taken away before she had the courage to do anything about it. She was trained to adapt to circumstances and accept loss, after all.

Besides, crying into his pillow would make him realize something was up.

And possibly spoil his scent.

* * *

><p>Ichigo was starting to get annoyed; a certain petite Shinigami was getting absurdly dominating, and not in a 'good way as' his Zanpakutō felt the need to point out.<p>

First, she refused to let the mod-soul, which he insisted should be referred to as Megatron, take over his body and go to school in his stead.

Second, she refused to even give the slightest bit of trust to Kon (what she so fiercely insisted was the name of the mod-soul. Seriously, 'Kon'? Calling a Kaizō Konpaku 'Kon' was about as imaginative as calling an airplane 'Plane'), saying he was to be used only in very, very dire circumstances. This was all after he spent four hours talking her into not taking the pill back to Urahara.

Third, she refused to let him fetch an actual robot to put the newly-acknowledged mod-soul in. It made perfect sense to him, if he was going to call him Megatron, then the fellow needed a robotic body. She called him crazy and then actually managed to slap the back of his head, while saying for the hundredth time that its name was 'Kon'.

"_I do believe things are getting a tiny little bit out of hand, Ichigo."_

Ichigo rolled his eyes, leave it to his sword to point out the obvious.

"_She's picking out your clothes, telling you when to shower, when to stop doing things and all of this without even a honeymoon."_

Also leave it to his sword to point out that the only thing wrong with the situation was that he was not getting laid for it.

"_But you like it."_

Ichigo nearly cracked his head against the bathroom's door frame as he realized that yes, he really liked it.

* * *

><p>"Absolutely not."<p>

"Now, you're just being unreasonable. See, me and this guy here," he pointed at… himself, or at least, his body, which was occupied by Megatron, sitting beside him on the bed, "Have come to a mutually beneficial agreement.

Rukia crossed her arms and took a deep breath; she willed her eyebrow to not twitch. And failed.

"And that would be?"

Ichigo smiled pleasantly, "He behaves and doesn't do… whatever he did the other day again, and we don't turn him in to be destroyed."

The mod-soul just HAD to complain, "Extortion and death threats, Rukia-nee-chan!"

Rukia wasn't convinced.

"What guarantee do you have that he won't just run away with your body the moment we take our eyes off him?" She really, really wanted to diffuse the situation. She didn't want to hang around the mod-soul much; she would have to pretend to be friendly with this crazed being at school. And more than friendly in front of the Kurosaki family.

Cue bile rising.

Ichigo sighed; "Megatron-" Rukia gritted her teeth and muttered 'Kon', "- is not a bad guy, Rukia. He just had a short moment in which the idea of freedom went to his head. He's actually pretty nice if you bother to talk to him without glaring," He gave Rukia an amused look, "Give him a chance, that's all I ask."

Rukia had to suppress a sigh; she knew the battle was now lost. Ichigo was a good judge of character – he'd not better than her. She still had to keep trying, though.

"I'm not sure…" Rukia nearly slapped herself "_You call that trying? Might as well say yes, already."_

"Don't worry. Megatron won't do anything I wouldn't."

And Rukia's brain screeched to a halt for a moment, before backpedaling and realizing just what he had said.

"That makes me worry even more, you Moron!"

"_Holy shit, Ichigo. I've been doing this for years and yet I haven't managed that capital M."_

Kon raised his hand, "Umm… Rukia-nee-chan," her eye twitched again. "I promise I won't do any drinking," double twitch, "or groping," triple twitch, "or arson," masterful eye twitch combo, there, "or jaywalking."

Rukia actually sighed this time, if only to stave off the seemingly inevitable aneurysm.

"Alright, but at the first sign of trouble, I'm turning you in to Urahara, or better yet, I'll crush you into dust."

Kon nodded so fast Ichigo thought he'd break his body's neck.

"_I'm getting soft."_ Rukia thought, "_Stupid Ichigo."_

"However." Rukia said loudly and pointing her finger to make a point. "You cannot have Ichigo's body all the time."

Ichigo nodded, he figured that made sense. Kon protested, though. "Why not? I said I wouldn't do anything-"

"It doesn't matter what you do or don't do. That is the body Ichigo uses to go on with his daily life. Besides, do you think his family wouldn't find out? His sisters could tell you're not him from several miles away."

Ichigo smiled, truer words had never been spoken in this context.

"He's going to need a body though." Ichigo said as he nodded to himself. "There is this Toyota robot that-"

"You're not stealing a robot!" Now _this_ was something Rukia was NOT going to give up on. "_Oh god, he almost pouted." _She thought Ichigo looked cute just now.

Kon was actually pouting, but Rukia thought it looked weird on him.

The woman makes no sense.

"Then what do you suggest we do? I wanna be able to talk to him without feeling like I'm practicing a speech on a mirror."

"_I want my very own Megatron, damn it."_

"_Can you put a mod-soul in an eighteen-wheeler?"_

"_I don't think so. Besides, I'd have to name him Optimus if I did."_

"_I prefer Optimus."_

"_Me too, but Megatron sounds infinitely cooler."_

"_We must obey the rule of cool."_

Rukia smirked, "I just thought of something." She walked to her closet and pulled something out of it.

Kon sputtered in indignation.

Ichigo looked between annoyed and amused.

Rukia's smirk widened as she held out the lion-shaped plushy that had been a gift from Sado.

* * *

><p>Ichigo was running to Urahara Shōten, he felt ready for what would be his third go at the Stairway of Doom and the Little Kids from Hell.<p>

He took a break of a week after the last session; mostly to recover his wounded pride at getting the snot kicked out of him by what he was sure came out of some lolicon ecchi manga.

"_Like the one Keigo showed me last year."_

"_I really wish you were more like him."_

"_Now you want me to be a pedophile?"_

"_Well, Rukia is very small…"_

And he crashed against a utility pole.

"_You just pictured her in a little girl's clothes." _It wasn't even a question.

Ichigo peeled his face off the wooden pole. "_Shut the fuck up, for once."_

He dusted himself off and walked into the alley leading to Urahara's shop. A very amused-looking Urahara was all the proof he needed to know that he had seen him crash against that pole.

"Welcome once more to my humble store, dear customer! Do you wish to sample some of our products or are you here for your customary beating?" He was fanning himself as if he hadn't just alluded to Ichigo's pain.

Ichigo's hand inched towards the hilt of his sword. Kisuke had really gotten familiar with him, to the point of knowing how to piss him off.

"Shut it, bucket-asshole."

* * *

><p>He was running up and down the stairway again, constantly dodging and swearing like never before. Urahara decided to add a new rule, he was not allowed to turn back half-way up or down the stairway, if he was going up, he had to make it all the way up before being able to turn back down and vice-versa.<p>

This made more predictable, which Jinta and Ururu exploited.

Ichigo was not making any advance, and was quietly beginning to consider asking the shop keeper to tone the training down a little bit.

"_You wuss."_

He gritted his teeth as he felt yet another rib crack from a punch courtesy of Ururu.

"_I'm missing something."_

"_I don't think you've lost any teeth yet."_

"_Not that, you asshole. It's like there's something about this training that I'm not seeing. Brute-forcing it so far hasn't worked, and I'm not allowed to use Shunpō. Dodging became ridiculously hard the moment I became unable to turn around, and going to the sides is also hard because there's two of them, so they just each take one side and wait for me."_

And then it clicked, and he nearly let Ururu punch his face in.

"_For the love of Thor, Jesus, and Izanagi! I'm such an idiot!"_

"_It only took you fifteen years to realize it."_

He now knew what he had to do, began running up, and then to one side, the much faster Ururu was right there in front of him, he walked until he was just outside of her arm's reach and stopped. Ururu didn't react outwardly, but she had been expecting him to turn back up or around, not just stop.

"_Now!"_

Ichigo jumped, and Ururu's eyes widened just a little bit when she saw Jinta's enormous bat coming towards her from left to right in a horizontal swing, she didn't have a time to dodge and was slammed against the stairway.

"_Can't attack either of them. But I can make them hit each other."_

Ichigo landed behind Jinta and used the boy's surprise to keep running up while yelling an incantation.

"Sprinkled on the bones of the beast! Sharp tower, red crystal, steel ring. Move and become the wind, stop and become the calm. The sound of warring spears fills the empty castle! Hadō #63: Raikōhō!**"**

He thrust his left hand forward as he reached the top of the stairway, and an orb of lightning formed in front of his palm, the orb grew until it was as big as his head and then, with a very audible roar, lightning shot from it and hit the barrier.

The force of it nearly knocked Ichigo back; he really didn't want to know what it would be like to on the receiving end of the Fiery Lightning Howl.

The explosion that followed the lightning beam hitting the barrier left behind a huge cloud of dust. Ichigo watched, waiting for it to dissipate to see the results of his attack, even the now-recovered Ururu and Jinta were curious to see if he had succeeded.

As the barrier finally became visible, Ichigo squinted and saw that he had made a large crack that went halfway up the barrier. It quickly fixed itself, the crack disappearing, leaving it as pristine and mocking as always.

Ichigo smiled though, that was more than he had managed so far. He quickly turned around and rolled under Jinta's bat swing, then rolled to the side to avoid getting a crater carved into his torso by Ururu.

"_I now know what I have to do."_

"_So do they, this is going to be harder now."_

"_I don't know if I can keep doing it."_

But then he heard it, coming from the last position he remembered the shop keeper being at, a trumpet, playing a very familiar sound. It came from a boom box that Kisuke was now sitting on, and the famous Bill Conti theme from the also famous movie about a boxer came on.

"… _This is seriously 'Gonna Fly Now', Ichigo."_

"_And it fucking fits."_

"_There's no way you can let yourself get kicked around now, not with such crowning music of awesome playing."_

"_I won't."_

Pumped up like never before, Ichigo moved his neck, feeling a satisfying pop, before he smirked at the coming Jinta and Ururu.

"_Urahara… the man is scary."_

Kisuke planned out every part of this training and hid most of the genius in it behind a careless, perhaps sadistic, façade.

* * *

><p>A very satisfied smile graced Urahara Kisuke's lips as he sat on the enormous speaker.<p>

"Ah, come to join us, Yoruichi?"

Yoruichi Shihōin walked out from behind the speaker, she should have known better than sneaking up on this maniac.

"So the kid is good at Kidō, huh? Never thought the son of Isshin would turn out that way."

Kisuke almost snorted. Instead, he looked at Yoruichi in the way one looks at someone who just told you that you're actually the opposite sex you believed you were. "What're you talking about? Ichigo-san's not a Kidō type."

Yoruichi sat next to Urahara, closing her eyes in annoyance; it'd be hard to get him to give her a full answer just by asking.

So instead, she twisted his arm behind his back, and dropped the both of them to the ground in front of the speaker.

"Ow, ow! Yoruichi, what did I do now?" Urahara sounded desperate, obviously faking it.

"Just tell me what you're thinking for once!"

"Okay, okay, just – just let go of me! Arms don't bend so high up behind people's backs!"

Yoruichi thought about it for a second, then nodded and got up, letting Kisuke get up and dust himself off. He rubbed his arm and shot Yoruichi a look screaming 'puppy kicker!'

"… Thinking about what, exactly?"

* * *

><p>Ichigo heard a very girly scream, and it distracted him enough to allow Jinta to nearly break his legs with his bat.<p>

"_Is some girl getting kidnapped or something?"_

* * *

><p>Kisuke was now sitting on the ground looking at a very, very satisfied Yoruichi sitting atop the loud speakers.<p>

"You didn't-" he cleared his throat a bit; his voice came out very squeaky, "You didn't have to go for the jewels!" He noted her nails were longer, now.

"You're not talking." Yoruichi glared at him.

"Okay, okay. Jeez!" He stood up, wincing as he did, and walked very slowly towards her. He sat down and began, "So I told Ichigo I wanted him to focus on Kidō here, and also told him his focus using his Reiatsu would improve with this training, right?"

Yoruichi nodded slowly.

"Well, I told him to break down either of those barriers. To be honest, I didn't expect to so much a scratch them without using his Zanpakutō."

Her eyebrows rose. "Then why the Kidō training?"

Urahara took on a serious look. "It's not Kidō training. I'm training him to improve his reflexes and reaction time. By giving him the goal of using Kidō to hit the barriers I'm making him look for a way to get the time necessary to use it. By removing his ability to attack, I'm making him use both Ururu and Jinta against each other. Those kids are very versatile fighters, and in a duo, they can be very dangerous. The challenge here is for Ichigo to adapt to whatever situation those two create and turn it against them."

Yoruichi was surprised, and silently berated herself for not seeing it. This sort of thinking was crammed into the skulls of everyone in the Onmitsukidō.

"I figured the kid to be much like his father, a natural who rode the tide of the battlefield without giving it much thought." Yoruichi knew Isshin very well.

"He is. Dear god, the kid is the very definition of being a natural. The only reason it took him this long to do it was because he had not seen past my 'don't attack them' rule." He looked down to the ground, his hat shadowing his eyes as he spoke more to himself than to his companion, "He has very solid grounding on all the disciplines of the Shinigami, Hohō, Kidō, Hakuda, Zanjutsu, and even the healing Kidō arts. He has advanced in all of them farther than Shinigami that have been around for centuries in just two months. He achieved Shikai in that short term, and has a connection to his Zanpakutō like no other I've ever known of, and his mind…" He trailed off as he returned to watch Ichigo manipulate Ururu and Jinta into hitting each other.

Yoruichi decided not to ask any further, Kisuke obviously had not yet passed judgment on that matter. Or perhaps he still didn't comprehend Kurosaki Ichigo? She didn't know if that was amusing, or scary.

* * *

><p>Ichigo phased into his room, it was about three in the afternoon, so he figured he could get back into his body, have some quick lunch and then hide for the rest of the day.<p>

Instead, he got a hysteric Kuchiki Rukia.

"Why didn't you tell me? I had to find out from Yuzu, and it was hard to convince her that I was already aware and thought she was talking about something else!"

Ichigo backed up to the wall; he had to make Rukia stop hanging out with Tatsuki.

"What're you talking about, mid-"

"Your birthday, you moron! Why didn't you tell me it was today?"

"_Oh."_

Ichigo frowned, and Rukia was taken aback by the rather… sad look on his face.

"I… I don't celebrate my birthdays." He turned to the side and walked towards a somehow-still-asleep Kon.

Rukia didn't buy that, "What do you mean? Yuzu and Karin – well, Yuzu was preparing some cake for your birthday."

Ichigo felt a pang of guilt, but didn't turn around and instead looked out the window, "I… alright, it's… a bit of a long story, let's take a walk."

* * *

><p>They were both walking alongside the river that ran along Karakura, Ichigo set a rather sedate pace and Rukia waited patiently for him to talk, she realized this was probably something difficult for him.<p>

Ichigo stopped walking and turned towards the river. He crouched to pick up a stone and seemed to be weighing it on his right hand, then he threw it, it skipped along the river, jumping four times before sinking, but Ichigo didn't look at it, instead staring at his own reflection on the water.

"Do you remember…? Masaki? My mother?"

Rukia crouched next to him and looked at Ichigo's reflection.

"Yes."

Ichigo sighed, "When I turned nine years old... that was the last time we celebrated my birthday. That July 15th, the clinic had way too many patients for us to go out and celebrate. It was a bit of a tradition to go out on picnics; we're not much for parties." He picked up another stone. "Instead, we delayed it until two days later, and we went out on a picnic as usual." He threw the stone, this time watching it bounce before looking at Rukia, "That was the day a Hollow fooled me and killed my mother."

Rukia had figured halfway through the conversation that it was something like that; it still broke her heart to see the defeated look in his eyes. Sometimes it was hard to forget that Kurosaki Ichigo was also a human being with weaknesses, and his heart could be wounded just like any other.

"I haven't celebrated my birthday since then. I always find a place to hide or something else to do. Yet, Yuzu still makes sure to remind me and bake a cake; Karin actually puts in a token effort to make me eat it."

Rukia nodded slowly, "And your father?"

Ichigo snorted, "My dad is… strong."

He stood up and offered his hand to Rukia. She took it and the both turned to keep walking.

Rukia had to tell him how she felt about this, "It's not fair that you leave your sisters to carry the burden while you run away." Then she turned around and started walking back the way they came.

Ichigo stared after her with wide eyes; her words had just sunk in.

"_Once again, she's right."_

"_She usually is. But, is it true? I've been getting stronger to stop that from happening ever again."_

"_That isn't facing the problem, Ichigo. That's no different from a man throwing himself at his work to forget about his problems back home. Your sisters have been trying all this time to be there for you on this day, the least you could do is do the same._

"_This day… means as much for them as it does for you."_

"Well?"

Ichigo blinked, he spaced out for quite a bit there. Rukia was just about to round a corner and looking at him with a raised eyebrow. "There are people waiting for you."

Ichigo smiled.

"_And yet another time-"_

"_She's right, yeah."_

* * *

><p>They arrived at his home at sundown, and walked hand-in-hand through the door to find Yuzu carrying a cake towards the living room table.<p>

"We're home."

Yuzu looked very, very happy. "Welcome home, Onii-chan, Nee-chan."

Even Karin was smiling. Isshin was uncharacteristically quiet, but his face threatened to split in two as he pulled out a box with candles.

Ichigo looked at Rukia and spoke quietly. "You know about human birthday celebrations?" Rukia nodded as she let go of his hand, "I actually do some research when you're not around, you know?"

"Yet you still need help when drinking from a juice box."

"Shut up, they're complicated."

"_She's the one who's complicated."_

"_Oh for the love of- Ichigo, you're such a fucking idiot."_

"_What was that now?"_

"_Nothing, just the sound of me about to smash my face against a building. You clueless, generic hero."_

He'd have inquired further but Isshin was now dragging him to take a seat, and trying to force a ridiculous party hat onto his head. Then Rukia took the hat and put it on his head herself, he grumbled and decided to humor her, for now.

He could swear he heard someone making the sound of a whip lash, but it was probably his imagination.

* * *

><p>Ichigo now lay on his bed thinking about the day, Rukia was sitting on the desk next to it pretending to do some homework.<p>

"Ichigo?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm sorry about earlier."

"What're you going on about now?"

"Talking about your mother must have been hard, I'm sorry I intruded."

Ichigo closed his eyes and smiled, "It's okay, I… I'm glad I told you." He really felt better having spoken to someone about it.

Rukia now faced him and seemed to be considering something.

"… January 14th."

Ichigo opened his eyes, "What?"

"My birthday, January 14th."

He blinked, "Huh, I'll make sure to keep it in mind when it comes."

Rukia smiled and nodded, he'd hold him to that.

And any thoughts of him not being around when her birthday came didn't dare try to ruin her mood.

* * *

><p>It was now the 17th and Ichigo made sure to get up even earlier than usual to arrange his thoughts. He decided that he'd at least try to be more positive on this day; his mother wouldn't want him to be so depressed, after all.<p>

"_Or get kicked by Rukia for being emo."_

"_I'm not emo, you bastard."_

"_All heroes have their emo phases, it's okay, and it's nothing to feel ashamed about… much."_

"_Ass."_

"_Breasts."_

"_What?"_

"Ichigo, why are you up so early?"

Rukia was coming out of his closet rubbing her eyes with the sleeve of her (Karin's) pajamas.

"_It's too damn cute."_

"_Breathe, Ichigo, breathe!"_

"Did I wake you?"

Rukia shook her head while yawning, "I usually wake up every other hour during the night."

That was weird, "Why's that?"

"I don't know, but I use the time to check on- well, I check to see nothing weird's going on or anything like that."

She found the wall to be very interesting as she said that, but Ichigo didn't see it, it was still too dark.

"We're skipping school today." It wasn't a question; Rukia could tell something like that would happen.

"Yeah, it's the 17th we… usually visit mom's grave."

Rukia nodded slowly, she wasn't about to berate him for that.

"I'll… I'll find something to do for the day, then."

Ichigo blinked and squinted in Rukia's direction. "What're you talking about?"

"Well, it's a family moment, so I thought…"

"You're coming with me - with us. Dad would go on about how you're family and drag you with us. And I guess it couldn't hurt to have you there." He wouldn't just tell her that he sort of wanted her to be there.

Rukia knew Isshin to be like that, so she couldn't deny the truth in Ichigo's words. "Alright."

"Go back to sleep, it's still a few hours until we have to go. I was just… thinking about things."

She nodded and went back to her closet.

Ichigo was left alone to his thoughts, or well, his and his Zanpakutō's, at least.

"_Before I point out the obvious, I'll just ask: Why do you want her there?"_

"_I guess… I could use the moral support?"_

"_She makes you stronger, doesn't she?"_

"_Isn't that what moral support is all about?"_

He heard a snort. "_Ichigo, you're such a buffoon."_

Ichigo shook his head and turned to lie on his side facing the window, and let sleep claim him again. He felt good already.

* * *

><p>The sky was blue as the Kurosaki family plus Rukia (Don't tell Isshin that) walked the streets of Karakura town towards the graveyard. They were going up a rather steep hill and Isshin was already acting like a court jester. Rukia tugged on Ichigo's sleeve.<p>

"Why is he going up the hill doing a handstand, Ichigo?"

"Because he's an idiot, ignore him or he'll be on our backs the whole day."

Isshin caught up with Karin and Yuzu, the two of them were a bit farther ahead, and apparently tried to grab Yuzu from underneath, to which Karin responded by punting his face and sending rolling down the hill. Ichigo and Rukia moved aside to let the Ball of Stupid roll.

"_This guy was a captain?"_ Oh if her brother knew about this…

"We're close now."

It was only two minutes later when they arrived at the graveyard. It wasn't much, just a traditional graveyard surrounded by a forest. They all walked through the pathways lined up by several graves.

"Ichigo, why does this grave say 'Choked on a grape?'"

"Probably because he did, Rukia."

"Who chokes on a grape and dies?"

"Ask the fellow when you see him."

She just shook her head and continued to read the grave stones as they passed, they were all fairly generic, but occasionally she came upon the strange (or hilarious) epitaph.

"This one says 'I told you I was sick'."

"When he's right, he's right."

"And that one says 'Stepped on the gas instead of the brake'."

"I won't contest that, either."

"This one says 'Rest in peace my dear adulterer'."

"Must have been quite the party guy."

…

"Ichigo?"

"Hmm?"

"What's an adulterer?"

He nearly choked on his own spit, but was saved from having to answer by Yuzu's announcement that they had arrived.

Isshin did as he usually did on this day, and stood in front of his mother's grave while smiling and mumbling things now and then.

Yuzu and Karin had a bit of a tradition of speaking to their mother about their year so far before splitting from the group and looking at the other graves, sometimes Yuzu forcing a reluctant Karin to play a bit of hide and seek, or tag.

Ichigo just walked around at a sedated pace, he had a new addition tailing him, though.

Rukia stepped beside Isshin and said a short prayer to Masaki as well as a mumbled 'thanks' before going after Ichigo and walking alongside him, she amused herself by looking at some more graves.

"I figured this place would be filled with Plus Souls or at least feel a bit gloomy, you know."

Ichigo answered that, "I think it's because people come visit those they loved here, and not being alone or perhaps knowing that their families and loved ones are safe let's them move on."

"Or there's a very diligent Shinigami around here."

"I hope not, the last Shinigami I met took over my closet."

He let himself be kicked in the shin for that comment, it was worth it.

"Moron."

"Midget."

Time passed fairly quickly as they gave in to idle chat and banter. They heard a whistle an hour after they split up from the group.

"What's that?"

"Dad usually blows a whistle to call us together. Let's go."

* * *

><p>Karin had been letting Yuzu drag her around and doing whatever it was she wanted to do at the time. Really, if there was someone Karin could never even attempt to say 'no' to, it was her other half.<p>

"I think dad's calling us."

Karin looked around, they had walked quite a bit in that short time, and they could barely hear his father's whistle.

Yuzu took Karin's hand and began walking in the direction she figured the whistle came from, but Karin stood her ground and looked at something she spotted over in the distance.

"Is that…?"

It was a girl, dressed in white. Karin couldn't help but think that she'd seen her somewhere else before.

"Yuzu, I think I know who that is."

"Really? Let's go say hello, then."

Karin nodded and led her sister towards the girl, but as they got closer, Karin began to get a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach. Something was wrong; they should not have come so close to this…

"That's not a girl."

"Karin? What are you saying?"

Karin got between her sister and the now too-close-for-comfort girl.

"Yuzu, stay back, there's something behind the girl."

* * *

><p>"Ichigo, where's Karin and Yuzu?" Isshin was still in front of Masaki's grave; the only difference from when they had left him was that he now held a lit cigarette between his lips.<p>

"I didn't see them on my way here." Ichigo frowned, he figured Yuzu would have come running, dragging a protesting Karin behind her.

"Go find them, then. I'll stay and whistle if they return."

Ichigo nodded and started walking, Rukia right behind him, before his eyes widened as he felt something very familiar.

Rukia must have felt it as well, because she didn't protest as Ichigo lifted her up and ran towards the direction of the strange presence.

"Ichigo, it's a Hollow."

"Most likely, yeah."

* * *

><p>The first sight that Ichigo arrived to made his blood run cold, and didn't even flinch when Rukia shoved the soul candy into his mouth.<p>

Karin was holding onto a very shaken up Yuzu. In front of them was a black figure holding up a sword; a man, he saw. It was apparently doing battle with-

Ichigo's mind nearly shut down.

That mask, that sound, that presence and that permanent grin. He had seen it all before, and remembering just where he saw it before made him freeze.

The guy, a Shinigami, dodged under a tentacle of fur that the creature threw at him, only to be batted away by a second tentacle coming from the opposite direction at the same time. Ichigo was still frozen; his mind still didn't know how to react to this sight.

In that time, the Shinigami jumped at the creature seeing as how both the tentacles were stuck between some graves, but then a third one grew from the spot he was lunging at and impaled him.

The sight of blood made Ichigo snap out of it. He took his sword from his back and ran at the Hollow, he cut off the tentacle that had impaled the other Shinigami.

"Rukia, look after him." He then pointed his free left hand at the Hollow and whispered "Hadō #1: Shō".

The creature was blasted back by an invisible force, it was sent hurling through the trees of the forest surrounding the graveyard, and Ichigo jumped straight after it.

Rukia was left alone with the wounded Shinigami; she idly noted the guy was wearing a Sugegasa on his head, a traditional, conical hat.

The Shinigami wasn't moving, and Rukia began to panic as she didn't know how to deal with an unconscious-

And then he snored.

Rukia had to refrain herself from kicking the guy, all of this and he was only asleep? She didn't feel she had to waste what little energy she had healing him – Shinigami could take a lot of punishment before they actually needed assistance, and if this guy could sleep through it, then he would be just fine.

She stood up and in the direction she saw Ichigo and the Hollow going.

Everyone seemed to have forgotten about Kon, who was left standing next to the sleeping Shinigami.

"Well, uh… what the shit do I do with you?"

* * *

><p>Ichigo considered the figure of the Hollow, which was still trying to turn around on its feet as it was still recovering from weak (Or so Ichigo figured) Thrust spell.<p>

It was a big ball of fur standing on chicken legs with the ugliest mug Ichigo had seen. From the top of its mask, a flesh-like tentacle stood up, and on the tip of it hung the figure of-

That confirmed it for Ichigo; it was the figure of the girl he saw that day.

The day this bastard killed his mother.

"Hey, you ugly ball sack."

The Hollow was now back on its feet, and turned to look at Ichigo with unrestrained anger, but then the look turned to one glee.

"**I remember you."**

Ichigo gritted his teeth, "I remember you as well."

"**Yes, I remember. Because of you I got to feed on a most delicious soul."**

Ichigo's scowl somehow got deeper and he looked away from the Hollow's face to stare at the ground in front of him, he was slowly beginning to hyperventilate.

"**Do you want her back, boy?"**

Ichigo's breathing quickened.

"**I could give her back to you; all you have to do is choose to serve me."**

His grip on his sword began to feel painful.

"**There was word around that there was a strong Shinigami walking around this town. I, Grand Fisher, came here to feed on his soul, but I think you and I can come to a mutually beneficial agreement."**

"Shut up."

If the Hollow was taken aback, he didn't show it. "**Don't believe me? See for yourself."**

The girl hanging from the tip of the Hollow's tentacle morphed, and it took on the shape of Kurosaki Masaki.

Ichigo stopped breathing.

Rukia had arrived to see Ichigo talking with the Hollow, she felt the need to interfere and help Ichigo, but the words of her mentor echoing in her mind stopped her.

"_There are two types of fights. Whenever we are in battle, we must be in one of the two. The fight for life or…the fight for pride."_

This was a fight Ichigo would have to face alone. If she interfered then she would only end up hurting his pride. This fight was his right, and she'd be damned before dare to taint his honor.

Ichigo only looked at the figure of his mother for a short moment, it was moving her lips as if saying something, but sound was something Ichigo could not register at the moment. His gaze then moved past the figure and towards the Hollow.

The creature, for a moment, felt it had made a mistake.

Ichigo disappeared and was at the Hollow's side in the blink of an eye, a splatter of blood and a flying limb was the only evidence that he had cut off both of the Hollow's front legs.

"You're pathetic."

The Hollow howled in pain as it fell on its face, swearing at Ichigo and willing its fur tentacles to attack the Shinigami.

Ichigo just jumped back and absently cut off the tentacles as they came, his sword becoming a blur in front of him. Quite a feat for something so massive.

"Lately, I've seen Hollows get stronger as well as smarter. I can see you're stronger than the norm, and I'd say you have some brains since you have the ability to cook up plans like this.

"But I can't help but notice that you're also a coward."

Ichigo flashed again and appeared on top of the Hollow, just standing there as suddenly the Hollow's bait tentacle exploded in a shower of blood.

"Using my mother against me was cowardly. And it has only served to make your death more painful."

Ichigo then spun around as several fur tentacles came from every direction, effectively cutting all of them. Then he held his sword, point down, with both hands before he let out a war cry as he stabbed the Hollow with it.

Before the Hollow had time to try and pull the sword out, Ichigo had already pulled it out and was once again standing in front of Grand Fisher.

"But then again… I don't think my mother would like to see me like this."

With that, Ichigo took a stance, his body turned to the side and with his legs spread; his sword behind him held in a reverse grip, it began to glow with Spiritual Energy.

Rukia's eyes widened as she felt the climb in Ichigo's Reiatsu.

"So let's end it - Getsuga Tenshō!"

He swung his sword from behind his back horizontally, and as it passed between him and the Hollow, a beam of very erratic-looking blue energy flew from it straight at the Hollow. It hit its mask dead-on and from there split into several beams of cutting energy that ran all over the creature's body. It let out a loud wail of pain as it was reduced to nothing.

Ichigo stood still, and slowly put his sword behind his back, he looked up to the sky as he felt a couple of drops of water landing on him.

"_Ichigo."_

…

"_Yeah?"_

"_It's… not raining."_

And it wasn't, Ichigo smiled at the sky as he felt something not quite water running down his face. The weight of the world suddenly felt so much lighter than it ever had.

"_I know."_

* * *

><p>Ichigo walked along with Yuzu and Karin towards his father, Rukia had gone to check on the wounded Shinigami. He still couldn't quite believe the guy fell asleep with a gaping hole through his stomach.<p>

"Oh, you found them."

Isshin acknowledged them with a nod, "Yuzu, Karin, go play for a little bit but don't go too far again. I want to talk to Ichigo about something."

Ichigo didn't feel nervous as he thought he would, even if his father brought up the fact that he was a Shinigami just now, he would take it in stride and talk about it as calmly as the conversation needed.

"Ichigo, do you remember why I smoke on this day?"

Ichigo nodded. Masaki, his mother, had only ever complimented Isshin's appearance once; and she had only said that he looked cool as he smoked.

He then blinked in surprise, his father was looking at him with the proudest eyes he had ever seen, he was holding out something for Ichigo.

"You're strong, son. Karin may be able to hold it all in, and Yuzu may have taken over so many of Masaki's duties, but it was you being a pillar of strength that held this family together, and now…"

Ichigo looked at what Isshin was holding out for him, it was a cigarette.

"Your mother always complimented your looks; let's see if you can pull off a 'cool look', eh?"

At any other instance, Ichigo would have slapped away the cancer-stick and punched his father in the face, but for some reason this moment felt… right. He took the cigarette and put it between his lips, his father held out a lighter to turn it on, the rain was light and it wouldn't turn off either the cigarette or the lighter.

"Just don't make it a habit if you do."

Ichigo willed himself to not go through a coughing fit as he knew all first-timers were wont to do, his eyes did tear up a little bit, though not enough to be noticed.

"Well, what do you know; I think you look better than I do."

* * *

><p>Rukia was very surprised as he saw Kon in his lion plushy form and the now-awake Shinigami telling each other extremely lewd jokes. The sight would have been comical had it not been for the blood in the Shinigami's clothes and the nature of their talk. They stopped when they finally noticed her, and Kon managed to make a plushy look really nervous.<p>

"Rukia-nee-san!"

"Ah, Kuchiki Rukia, the woman I wanted to see."

Rukia blinked, "Huh?"

"Hey, what's with the look, no respect for your senpai, Eikichirō Saidō?"

Rukia blinked again and gave the guy a deadpan look.

"… Who?"

The guy face faulted, and mumbled something like 'so cruel, princess.'

"I was sent here to check up on you, you've been here too long."

Rukia frowned, "I don't have to report for another month."

The guy looked surprised, "That's not how… hmm." He seemed to think about it as he brought his hand to his chin.

Something was up, and this guy was not part of it, Rukia could tell, he was just as surprised about it as she was.

"Still, I can see why you would want to stay. You got yourself quite a handsome catch. Oh the pleasures of the flesh…"

Rukia was now sure she didn't like the guy.

"I guess… I'll just say you had an unexpected delay, and it will take some time before you get to return, huh?"

Rukia's anger disappeared, "Why?"

Eikichirō scratched the back of his head, "I guess I can understand, that's all. Besides, there's something… But I won't trouble you with that."

The man, Eikichirō, was perceptive, and Rukia decided to accept this gesture from him, even if his reasons seemed a bit outlandish. Something really was up; she'd have to tell Ichigo afterwards.

"That guy… Ichigo, if Megatron here was truthful."

She glared at the plushy, but restrained herself from correcting the Shinigami lest she confuse him.

"What about him?" She was on her guard; Ichigo was a sensitive territory to speak of with another Shinigami. Her territory, no less.

Eikichirō chuckled and shook his head, "Relax, the guy is just interesting… that's all. He's pretty strong, stronger than I am. I've been at it for a century and a half, yet the kid can probably run circles around me."

Rukia had to stop a smug grin from appearing on her face, "So?"

"He's gonna make waves, Kuchiki. Sooner rather than later, I believe. I think I'll keep… Eh, we'll talk some other time; he's probably waiting for you." With that, the guy stood up, waved at Rukia and Kon and jumped away from sight.

Rukia picked up Kon, making sure to keep the Konpaku well away from her chest, and walked back towards Masaki's grave.

* * *

><p>Rukia arrived at Masaki's grave to see Ichigo and Isshin standing side to side idly chatting, both smoking cigarettes.<p>

She blinked, that one she didn't expect.

"Oh, my third daughter is here." Both Ichigo and Isshin put out their cigarettes as the latter blew a whistle signaling it was time to go home.

Yuzu and Karin joined them and they started walking back home, it was no longer raining.

Ichigo felt a tug on his sleeve, it was becoming familiar.

"Ichigo?"

"Yes, Rukia?"

"I didn't know you smoked."

Ichigo shook his head, "I don't. My father wanted to see if I'd look 'cool' doing it. You see, my mother… I'll tell you when we get home."

Rukia nodded and they kept walking in silence. Well, the two of them were silent, Karin and Yuzu were chatting happily as their father did one thing or another to get their attention.

Rukia blushed for a moment, and accidentally spoke out loud the thought that made her blush.

"You did look cool."

* * *

><p>And that's a wrap.<p>

Do read this author's note; I want to point out a couple of things before anyone with a keen eye does it in a review.

Some dates and events have been changed, that's why I put in that it would be somewhat AU. For starters, the thing with Orihime's brother which I already mentioned previously. But those of you with an amazing memory for little facts will probably notice that I changed the date of Masaki's death. She did die on the 17th, just of a different month, June. I felt it was necessary for the story, and it was either change that date or change the date of Ichigo's birthday.

Between making Ichigo a month older and giving his mother another month of life, which one do you think I chose?

Even more radical was the change of the time he met Tatsuki. He originally met her at age 4, but I made him meet her at age 7. I had to give him time to grow into his purpose before he learned how to beat people up.

Ichigo used Getsuga Tenshō without going Shikai, too. First off, I couldn't really get rid of that attack, it's too awesome. And secondly, Ichigo's gonna be breaking a couple more rules, all for the sake of being awesome (I use that word too much).

I point out things like this because I have quite a few reviewers that are quite observant (you people know who you are).

Don't get me wrong, I love you guys. You really keep me on my toes and make me go the extra mile to not write bad stuff.

Oh, by the way. I don't, in any way, endorse smoking. I don't think people really look cool doing it, either. But that's just my opinion and not Isshin's (Or Rukia's).

This chapter was going to be split into two, but then I realized I had taken a real long time to update, so I decided to keep it as it is.

It was rather hard to write, too. I'm really itching to get to the next arc. Oh, the ideas I have…

Sorry for the delay, my university is really pushing me and it won't ease up until early December. I'll try to make the next update come along faster, though.

Gah, I promised myself I wouldn't write long Author's Notes. So I bid you adieu.

Edit: Someone PM'd me about my Noodles comment. So I'll say it before anyone else asks: It's what I eat the most. I'm an unemployed college student, noodles are cheap and quick to make. That's fairly simple math.

- Flameal out.


	10. Chapter nine Pimps and Gore

Disclaimer: I have a question; if any of us writers on this here site of ours made any money off writing the fictional crap we do, would the quality of the stories in general improve? Or would we have a pile of stinking waste much larger than we currently do? If it's the former, someone should start paying us, really.

This chapter is brought to you by my freezing fingers – dear gods I live next to the beach how can it be this cold during the day?

The First Guardian

Chapter Nine – Pimps and Gory Indiscretion

Ichigo wasn't sure how he was supposed to feel about Rukia – don't get him wrong, he knew exactly how he felt about her, he just hadn't decided what to do about it. But that's in an entirely different context than what he was currently thinking about.

To be more precise, at the moment, he wasn't sure how to feel about her behavior as of late.

First off, she was always around him. This wouldn't be strange, normally; she was always with him every day – what with school, family gatherings (which became quite more often than usual) and when going out with friends (not to mention sharing the same room, even if she said the closet was a separate room). But lately it started to get weird, for him, that is.

It was normally an unspoken deal that they would walk to and from school together, they had no reason to not do so and they both enjoyed each other's company, as well as that of their friends whenever they joined. Sometimes he or she stayed until a bit later or left a couple of minutes earlier but they'd always catch up on the way. Now, Rukia made it a point to either wait for him to leave, or make him hurry up. In the case of the latter, he'd tell her to go ahead without him, but then she'd come up with either an excuse about how she needs him or something along the lines of 'You're going to cause trouble if I leave you alone'. He resented that – she made him sound like a badly trained ape. And whenever he had other things to do, she just followed around and waited for him to be done, those times she didn't complain or say a thing, even if she did look a bit bored sometimes.

The second, and, perhaps to Ichigo, worst part, was that whenever they had absolutely nothing to do she'd drag him into whatever she currently felt like doing. He didn't mind it most of the time. Again, he had fun around her. When they went out with their school mates they usually had a blast (sometimes quite literally). But then, sometimes, she wanted to do other… things. With him. In the living room. With Yuzu and Karin, sometimes.

Playing around with the context aside, Ichigo really had to wonder who, when, and dear god, why, introduced Rukia to movies.

Once more, don't get him wrong, he loved movies. He didn't mind staying around all day indulging her and watching whatever she currently felt like watching. Well, that's not entirely true. Let's remember, for a second, that this is Kurosaki Ichigo we're talking about here. So of course, there's always an exception.

In his case, Disney movies.

There's something to be said about growing up and watching the good ole' Disney classics again. It's a pleasant and nostalgic experience. There's something entirely different to be said about watching it with a mouthy Zanpakutō stuck in your head.

* * *

><p>"<em>Why do they call her The Little Mermaid? Chick's rack has nothing little about it."<em>

"_Why do you have to do this? Now I can only focus on her breasts."_

"_I take the form of a six feet long blade. I'm all about size."_

"_I'm sorry, I can't think any overcompensation jokes right now, and you have forever tainted Ariel."_

"_Oh please, she did that herself. I mean, she made a pact with the ugliest thing ever to get something she wasn't sure she'd like in exchange for something she loved above all and was good at. Legs and her voice, respectively."_

"… _Now she's a retard with a nice rack. I hate you."_

* * *

><p>"<em>Wait, wait. What? Are all girls like this nowadays? Or is it because the hair all over makes the Beast too manly to actually think about it?"<em>

"_What the hell are you talking about?"_

"_The Beauty and the Beast is a stupid movie that makes girls stupid."_

"_I'll regret this, but please, do elaborate."_

"_Somehow, Belle, our heroine, processed 'extremely violent, ugly but manly, kidnapper' and transformed it into 'Guy with a heart of gold'. Then she took 'house arrest' and made it come out as 'true love'. They're basically saying 'It's okay if he kidnapped you and threatened to kill you and your father! That means he's a great guy underneath and he really loves you!'."_

* * *

><p>"<em>What the fuck is this shit? The guy went through hell and back to save her, he proved his balls to be basketball-sized several times over and made the word 'Sanctuary' sound several times cooler than it already is – and he doesn't get the girl at the end? What kind of crappy world allows that to happen?"<em>

"_I get you on this one. They're either trying to make Gypsies look like assholes, or telling everyone that if you're hideous, it doesn't matter if you win at the end, you'll never get the girl."_

"_Poor hunchback…"_

* * *

><p>"<em>Cinderella is a stupid name for a stupid girl who doesn't even do stupid things <em>_because she does NOTHING AT ALL."_

"_No, not this time."_

"_I mean-"_

"_Seriously, if you ruin it again, so help me-"_

"_-she wants everything out of life but all she does is obey orders and bitch and moan in songs. Any normal person would have told their family to shove it and gone off to find fortune. But no, she only cleaned and sang. And the bitch got a whole damn fucking Kingdom out of it at the end. Don't get me started on the glass shoes. Oh gee, Prince, congratulations. You married a woman who's only good at cleaning shit. She won't even get to do that because she's now too high up to do stuff like that. Might as well have married a hole in the wall."_

"_See, you're wrong about that. There's other stuff for married people to do. I figured you'd know that, you deviant."_

"_I don't think you see the whole picture. See, if the hole is just the right size, then you can-"_

* * *

><p>"<em>I promised myself I wouldn't cry during Bambi."<em>

"_Me too."_

…

"_For future reference, let's not make promises we know we can't keep."_

* * *

><p>That was a horrible day and Rukia's joy at discovering Disney was the only thing that stopped him from throwing his sword at the river. It'd come back, it always did, but it would feel good.<p>

So far, it had seemed as if that was the limit of the activities Rukia wanted to share with him – much to the annoyance of his Zanpakutō.

Or well, that's what it seemed, until…

* * *

><p>"If there was ever an alternate reality in which I so much as considered accepting such arrangements, it would surely implode within minutes of its creation due to the ridiculous mass of focused <em>stupid<em> contained in it." Ichigo was not going to budge about this.

Rukia scowled, and then pouted when she realized getting angry over it wasn't going to change his mind.

"Why not? Don Kanonji is such a nice figure! I'm sure you-" And then Ichigo covered her mouth with his hand while giving her a stern look.

"Don't misunderstand me, I like Kanonji. Both he and I… well, let's just say I have nothing against him." Ichigo's palm suddenly felt wet, and he removed it when he realized Rukia had been licking it. She gave him a superior look as if she hadn't been the one to do something so disgusting. Nevertheless, he went on, "His show, however, is a different story."

"It's a fun show." She frowned both at his stubbornness and in thought – she had learned long ago that whenever Ichigo liked or disliked anything, it was usually for reasons only someone named Kurosaki Ichigo would be able to comprehend, with the sole exception being things that fit in his definition of 'Awesome'. Those were pretty obvious. She had voiced her thoughts on this matter to her female school mates, and the conversation didn't go anywhere, what with Orihime suggesting they change their names to see if it gave them any insight on his persona.

"Kanonji is a hilarious person. Made even funnier by the fact that he does not realize it. He's also good with pets, actually."

"What?"

Ichigo just shrugged, he was now finished wiping his hand on his pants. They were currently sitting on the sidewalk not too far from the Kurosaki home. It was one of those days in which the clinic had more patients than usual and he wasn't going to take any chances with his father.

"_Helloooooo, Nurse!"_

"But his show makes the idea of having my ears filled with particularly rancid vomit sound very appealing to me."

Rukia's frown deepened, Ichigo had just paused. That meant he was giving her some time to figure him out on her own. It was something of a habit for them, and she now realized it was not unconscious. Ichigo simply could not resist schooling others or driving them mad with their own questions. The fact that he didn't do it in these situations with her made her like that trait of him very much. She liked it because he would give her time to come up with her own ideas – coming to your own conclusions was the easiest way to learn anything, after all. If they were wrong, he would correct them accordingly and she would still learn a lot. She had learned to accept that he was the fastest mind of the two.

She also liked it because it made her feel special. It was always the small things when it came to Ichigo.

Ichigo waited a few more seconds, and then continued, "He was in Karakura once before, for two months. I had to follow him around because although the guy has some measure of Spiritual Energy that allows him to truthfully feel spirits and all that as well as actually throw around some of his powers, he has absolutely no idea what the hell he's doing. I had to follow His Royal Deviancy around to make sure he didn't fuck things up, and he ALWAYS did."

Rukia blinked, her frown now gone. Well, that was something she didn't know about.

"Surely it couldn't have been so bad?"

A snort was the only reply she got. Ichigo shook his head as stood up, he held out his hand for Rukia to take, and she reluctantly did so. She was not ready to give up on the subject, but he would only get more annoying if she kept asking.

"You don't know half of it. Anyways, let's head back home. They should have taken care of most of the work so it should be safe for me to just leave my body in my room." He started walking in the general direction of their home. Rukia followed.

"I didn't know you had any plans for today." She asked for no reason at all. She never knew when he was planning anything until something interesting happened. Or exploded.

"Well, I, for one, wish to partake in my Shinigami duties without any sort of hassle, emergency or spontaneous nipple twisting going on. And you, my diminutive princess, will meet up with Chad and the guys to attend Don Kanonji's live show."

Rukia had to resist letting out a sigh. She had thought she'd be able to talk him into going by pointing out that Kanonji (as he said) would only cause trouble and they could use the extra security. She still asked anyways.

"Why won't you go if you know Don Kanonji usually messes things up?"

"Hah, don't worry. Lord Spiritual Flashiness usually ends up harassing Plus Souls with his cane. Nothing you shouldn't be able to deal with, so don't worry about that!" With that he grabbed her and jumped up to his room from outside the house. She started putting on her glove, but looked apprehensive as she said, "Are you sure?"

"Nope, not at all. But hey, what's life without some excitement?"

She smacked his face with her gloved hand with a bit more than the necessary strength. Ichigo looked unfazed; she didn't know why she tried anymore.

Ichigo suddenly took a kneeling position before her and held her hand to his lips.

"Very well, fair maiden. I must now bid you adieu."

Rukia would have blushed if it wasn't for the fact that as soon as the final word left his lips, he proceeded to run his tongue all over hand.

"ICHIGO!" But he was already gone.

* * *

><p>"<em>I knew you had it in you. Kinky." <em>Spoke the smug Zanpakutō.

"_And I knew you'd read too much into it." _Answered the resigned Shinigami.

* * *

><p>Rukia laid Ichigo's body in a more comfortable position on his bed. She had once wondered why holding him like that – his body pressed against her by gravity as she held him up or dragged him around – didn't make her feel flustered at all, unlike many other moments did. But now she understood at some level that, while Ichigo was not in his body, his body was not Ichigo at all. She just couldn't feel him as Ichigo during those times his body was devoid his presence. She figured it wasn't unlike a gigai, and that it was actually normal.<p>

If she'd had more experience in the human world and perhaps gigai manufacturing, she would have known this wasn't normal at all.

She nodded to herself as she decided Ichigo's current position wouldn't make his body ache when he returned to it. Then she made her way to her 'room'.

This began a routine, actually. She'd take the five or so steps from Ichigo's bed to her closet, however, during the halfway through the fourth step, her closet door would open, and she'd have to duck under the plushy projectile that constantly wanted to cuddle with her.

"Rukia-nee-chan!" Megatron, as he liked to refer to himself, didn't really feel any sort of big connection with Rukia – at least not one that would make him really call her 'nee-chan' – but he understood that his own freedom, no, his whole existence, hinged on the fact that Rukia tolerated him.

Sure, Ichigo was the one to save him and 'convince' Rukia to let him stay, but he knew that if Rukia really wanted him gone, with good reason backing up her decision, Ichigo wouldn't even blink as he effectively 'got rid' of him.

That's how he saw it, anyways.

So then the Kaizō Konpaku decided that he would get on Rukia's good graces, that way his chances of survival would be greatly increased. But this being a somewhat deranged Mod-Soul that wanted to be called Megatron, he went around it the wrong way entirely.

His lion-plushy body was backflip-kicked by Rukia as he passed above her crouched form, and he flew out the still-open window to a destination only known to the ground he'd eventually hit.

Rukia didn't even blink this time. That was the eleventh or so time she did that. She really ought to thank Karin for teaching her how to do that kick.

She didn't need much from her closet, just some more comfortable shoes. She wasn't the kind of girl that spent hours getting ready – she had her own reasons to hate make up as well as overly-done preparations. Being a Kuchiki had its downsides, but that was neither here nor there.

She made her way out the window after placing a do-not-disturb sign and locking the door. The sign had a little bunny drawing holding up a heart. That way anyone that wanted to go into the room would think… something was going on in there and wouldn't dare interrupt. It was how she usually made sure nobody would find Ichigo's unmoving body and think he was dead or something.

She was quite sure Ichigo would blow a gasket – or a whole city block if he ever found out. She could almost see him ranting about his father going mad about it.

She'd meet up with Tatsuki and Orihime, and then they'd catch a bus and meet up with Sado, then they'd just walk to where the shooting of Don Kanonji's show would be. She was actually kind of excited.

Not because of the show, mind you. But because she was going to get to ride a bus. In all of her time in the human world, she had never been able to ride a human vehicle, mostly because Ichigo just carried her around everywhere. Also because Ichigo himself apparently had something against public transportation. She asked him about it, and then he calmly told her that he'd rather commandeer a military tank and crash it against school than ride a bus there. She stopped questioning it when she felt his Reiatsu spark, but she knew there was a story there.

"Kuchiki-san!" She was pulled out her thoughts when she heard Orihime's voice coming from the bust station, followed by Tatsuki's telling her not to be so loud.

"Inoue-san, Tatsuki-san." Rukia nodded towards the both of them as she said their names, it was a habit she picked up from her brother, and he'd do that only out of courtesy. Never any sort of respect. Come to think of it, did her Nii-sama respect anyone?

"Kuchiki-san." Tatsuki returned the gesture; she was rather polite whenever she wasn't angry about something. A rare thing.

"Um, Kuchiki-san, didn't Kurosaki-kun come with you?" Orihime looked puzzled and somewhat disappointed. And Rukia had to sigh.

She did not want this, this would be one of the rare times in which Rukia interacted with Ichigo's friends without any sort of purpose while he wasn't around, and she always felt like an outsider. She guessed that she only had herself to blame – after all, if she had not made sure he was always there, she'd have gotten used to it, and she wouldn't be so awkward. When did she start caring about not screwing up such little things anyways?

It would have been weirder if she hadn't come after telling Ichigo how much she wanted to, though. He'd have probably realized something was up.

"He had somewhere else to be." She shrugged, but her eyes narrowed when she saw Tatsuki and Orihime share a strange look at her answer. However, she fixed her expression faster than the other two could turn back to her. It wouldn't do to be suspicious of them; they were not enemies, politicians, or nobles. They weren't the sort to have all kinds of hidden motives, just two friends silently communicating. She wished she could have done that with Renji, that way she wouldn't have to punch him to make him listen all the time.

Tatsuki kept the conversation going, "Oh well, can't be helped. He does that from time to time, doesn't he?"

"Kurosaki-kun disappears sometimes, but I'm sure he's not up to anything bad." Orihime answered.

Rukia felt a chill go down her back. "_She… she just jinxed it."_

* * *

><p>Ichigo wasn't doing anything bad, or well, nothing bad as in, <em>bad<em>. He was just stalking Rukia and his friends. Stalking wasn't bad in his book. Not when he did it anyways.

If he was just going to do this, why didn't he go with Rukia in the first place? The answer was simple; he didn't want any of his friends that he was there. The reasons to that were two-fold.

First, if he was hidden, it would be much easier to fix things if Lord Pimp-Staff messed up everything, as he was bound to do. He was counting on it, actually.

That led to the second reason, and it left a bad taste in his mouth. The subject of interest today wasn't Rukia, or even Kanonji himself. No, today was a day of experiment, today the focus was his best male friend, Sado.

The last few days of school, the gentle giant had a strange presence about him. It wasn't anything in his demeanor or his looks. He could just feel something strange about him, something familiar that he simply couldn't place. Then he remembered the time with the bird, Sado managed to dodge the Hollow's attack, and he could tell it wasn't just luck. Sado had strong spiritual energy, and he could feel more beneath the surface of what was obvious.

Today's 'experiment' was to be a strange one. All he had to do was nothing. Kanonji would surely screw things up in some way, and Sado being Sado, would seek to protect the girls with him. It was part of the oath they took – to protect what the other would. Sado would surely find himself in a combat situation, and Ichigo's purpose was to watch, and if it seemed a too dangerous, intervene. Otherwise today the show was all Sado's, contrary to what Don Kanonji would think.

"_I feel rotten."_

"_You know well this is necessary, Ichigo. If all goes as we expect it to, then it'll work to Sado's benefit."_

"_I know… I know. But it still doesn't make me feel any better about what I'm doing."_

Ichigo had worked some… manipulations in order to set up the day. Sado wasn't much of a fan of Kanonji's show. He'd rather be at that animal show he liked so much, and he going out with the girls without the guys there was very unlikely.

The first thing he did was make sure his family wouldn't be there. They had planned on going, so Ichigo spent the time just before dawn roaming around the ugliest parts of town. How is any of that related? Well, Ichigo wasn't someone you'd overlook, and around the parts of Karakura where delinquents and the like hung out he was a beacon for people with ill intentions, so they'd try to get one over him, rob him, beat him up or whatever. None of that would work, Ichigo would beat up people, maybe break a few bones, and then send them to the clinic telling his family there was an accident with a gas line. He even blew up an alley to make it seem convincing. He got to keep his family home, and he taught a lesson to the bad guys of town.

He very much liked win-win situations. Where he won twice, that is.

Then he had to make sure Tatsuki and Orihime would go, that was easy, really. He just off-handedly mentioned that Kanonji was a fun guy, and they'd both think that he would actually go to the show, so when Rukia mentioned it, they agreed to go. And Ichigo knew Rukia would mention it, after all, Don Kanonji's show was one of the things that Yuzu got her hooked on to.

He had thought Sado would be the hardest part, not because he would be hard to convince. No, it was because what he would have to use to convince him. He just told him that he wouldn't be able to make the show, and that he had a strange feeling about it. So when Sado heard the girls were going, and figuring Ichigo wouldn't make it, he volunteered to go, if only to watch over them.

"_I feel like a puppet master of the worse kind."_

"_Things like this are necessary, Ichigo. That way, when the situations we really have to be prepared for do come around, less people will end up getting hurt."_

"_Again, it doesn't make me feel any better. This sort of plan… is something only a twisted bastard would come up with."_

* * *

><p>Urahara dropped his fan as he sneezed. He blinked in surprise before Tessai hoisted him on his shoulder.<p>

"Wait, where are you taking me? Put me down!" Urahara comically kicked and punched to get free of the man's hold.

"You could be coming down with something. We must medicate you properly with this." He held up a little pill behind his back, so that Kisuke could look at it. "With some of my special soup." Kisuke paled, Tessai's 'special soup' was a grain of salt short of a tongue-murderer. "Otherwise, if you do get sick, we'll have to use this." He held a significantly larger pill this time, about palm-sized.

"That doesn't look too bad, I'll just wait and if I get sick, I'll take the larger-"

"It's a suppository."

"On the other hand, better safe than sorry."

* * *

><p>Ichigo saw Rukia and the girls get off the bus at their destination, keeping up with it while hiding his presence wasn't hard at all. He wasn't much of a stealth person, rather preferring to bring down a building than infiltrate it, but the situation required a bit of delicacy.<p>

Sado walked calmly behind the girls, a single one of his steps equaling three of girls'. He stood back watching them, making sure they didn't stray or nothing strange crept up on them.

It was a habit Ichigo used to have, actually. Before he met Sado, he was always the one walking in the back of the group, watching out for all of them. Now, Ichigo took the front, the spot of the one leading the group, and Sado took the back. It was an unspoken agreement between them, that way they could protect everyone with them from both sides.

Ichigo smiled, he remembered just why Chad was his best friend.

The group of four, with Ichigo following from the rooftops half a block behind, reached their destination. It wasn't hard to find the place, what with the multitude of people (mostly parents with their kids) already there. Ichigo frowned when he saw the girls making their way through the people, using Sado's intimidating figure to make way between the veritable human walls. That would make it harder to follow them, the rooftops helped when it came to hiding, if he just floated around, someone was bound to notice or feel something. Someone like Kanonji. Or worse, Rukia.

If Rukia learned that Ichigo set the whole thing up, and she probably would, then he was in for a world of immense anger. And she would probably be disappointed in him. He didn't want that, even if he felt a bit annoyed about himself at that moment.

"_Quit it with the whole emo attitude. Stay sharp, it's starting."_

* * *

><p>Rukia smiled as the show began, Don Kanonji did look a bit clownish and had a rather over-the-top hero attitude, but you couldn't deny that he had a bit of presence as well as a great love for his audience. The man himself sported sunglasses (at night?) and a mustache; he was very tall and perhaps too thin for his height. He wore a flashy outfit with huge shoulder pads beneath a long-sleeved, rather tight-looking shirt with an absurdly thick fur collar. On his back hung a cape, and on his head an equally flashy hat.<p>

Kanonji introduced himself and the crossed his arms on his chest with both hands semi-opened in clawing gestures towards himself. Then he laughed loudly, very deeply and quite hilariously.

"BOHAHAHAHAHA! It smells like bad spirits!"

Orihime and Tatsuki stood on either side of Rukia; they were clapping along with the entire audience, though Tatsuki seemed to do it because she found the whole situation ridiculously funny.

Sado didn't even move from behind the three of them, he was like a bodyguard on a dangerous mission, though his attitude wasn't any different than usual, so the girls didn't find it weird.

Ichigo braced himself for what was to come, he was hiding behind a tree not too far away, but not as close as he'd like, with his hand holding onto the handle of the sword hanging on his back, just in case he had to move in fast.

Rukia's smile disappeared and now she really looking at what was going on, Kanonji made a show out of exorcising a spirit, but she hadn't known that there would be an actual Plus Soul chained down to the old hospital the show was being filmed on. Kanonji made a real big show out of approaching the-

And then her eyes widened, and Ichigo's words from earlier replayed in her mind.

The Plus Soul grounded in the hospital – it wasn't too far from becoming a Hollow. At this point, there was only a fifty percent chance of a Konsō working, and the man, Kanonji, was no Shinigami.

She saw him lift his staff, and for a second she thought the man was about to perform a Konsō ritual with it, but then he shoved it into the hole in the semi-hollow's chest. The man was only accelerating the process of the soul becoming a Hollow. From four to six months to just a few seconds. She hated it when Ichigo was right. That was all the time, though she wouldn't admit it.

Rukia winced as she saw the soul protest in pain, and then grit her teeth and had to try hard not to turn away as he saw Kanonji spew more of his crazy talk while wiggling around his rod in the semi-hollow's hole.

* * *

><p>"<em>I feel like I missed a very funny sentence that could be taken out of context."<em>

"_Don't distract me, now's when it starts."_

* * *

><p>Sado could see it, he had thought the show to be fake, and as his best friend would put it a 'steaming pile of bullshit', but now he saw that the host, Don Kanonji, was actually interacting with something. He couldn't tell just what it was; all he saw was a blurry humanoid shape moving on the other side of the host's staff. Then he got that feeling.<p>

It was the feeling he usually got when some of the street thugs he and Ichigo used to fight tried to sneak up behind him, only this time he felt it coming from in front of him, or more specifically, the shape in front of Kanonji. It was the feeling of danger. The blurry figure chose that moment to stop being blurry and he very clearly saw what was going on, as well as hear the… thing screaming.

Rukia looked around for options, she couldn't just jump in and blast the transforming soul, there was a lot of security men around; not to mention it would be nigh-impossible to modify so many memories of her throwing lightning. Not without at least a dozen other Shinigami, anyways.

Then it was too late, the soul broke free of the chains holding it to the hospital, let out an unearthly scream that even those in the audience without enough perception could hear, and moved too fast for normal eyes to see.

Kanonji blinked, then smiled and turned around to face his audience, "Exorcism success!" He bellowed, and the audience applauded and cheered loudly.

Rukia knew otherwise, though, that soul was now a Hollow, and if her senses were right, it was now in the hospital it was previously chained to. She could also tell Tatsuki and Orihime felt something was off as well, and she remembered Ichigo mentioning that those two were strangely perceptive, and he was afraid of showing any power around them for that same reason. He looked resigned to some strange fate as he said that, though.

"_Please stay in there."_ If the Hollow did, then she could just bring Ichigo later to get rid of the Hollow, when there was no audience or any of their perceptive friends around.

Then everyone heard another scream and Rukia's hopes vanished.

Everyone looked up to where they heard the unearthly scream coming from; no one except a select few (those being Rukia, Kanonji, Sado and the hidden Shinigami) saw what was standing on the rooftop of the hospital.

Kanonji's eyes narrowed, and then he addressed his audience once more, "It seems the foul spirit I banished had a boss! Tonight's work is yet to be finished, and I, the great Kanonji, will put to rest this foul spirit!" Then he looked up and saw the figure jump off the hospital, on the opposite direction from where they were, so he signaled his camera crew to follow him around the building. He also told the security crew that it would be best if the audience stayed and saw the whole thing later on TV, it would be difficult to do his job with so much people moving around. He struck his pose and laughed before he ran around the building.

* * *

><p>Sado felt at odds, he had to stay with the girls and protect them, but then that creature would probably hurt someone, and he couldn't bear to just stand to the side while that happened.<p>

"Where's Kuchiki-san going?"

Sado started at Orihime's words. Then he looked in the direction she was pointing at and saw Rukia speeding past the security crew and after Don Kanonji and his camera men.

And there went his doubts.

"Orihime-san, Tatsuki-san, stay here. I'll go make sure Rukia's alright."

Both girls blanched, they had almost forgotten that the Mexican wall was standing behind them. Tatsuki was the first to recover.

"But, Chad- no! Wait a moment!"

But now the big guy was running past the security men. Unlike with Rukia, in which she used her small size and speed to maneuver around them, the men just paled as they saw him move faster than any guy his size should move, and let him pass through without so much as yelling 'halt!'

Tatsuki chewed on her lower lip, now Chad was gone too. She could feel that the whole situation was dangerous, and she had wanted to keep an eye on everyone with her. But now the security men were joined by even more security personnel, and she didn't want to get arrested for beating them up to get through, she'd just have to wait and see.

"_Of all the days, Ichigo chose this one to not be around_." She lamented.

* * *

><p>Finally, it was time. Ichigo stood from the branch he had been crouching on, then leapt to the hospital's rooftop to get a view of the other side.<p>

"_Come on, Chad."_

* * *

><p>Sado arrived to see Kanonji get backslapped by frog-thing-whatever creature with a white, bony-looking head. The proclaimed exorcist, surprisingly, got up and took a fighting stance in front of the creature again. Rukia was standing to the side looking as if she wanted to do something, then her eyes landed on him and she got a panicked look on his face which then it changed to curious when she saw him focus on the creature.<p>

Sado moved to stand behind and to the side of Don Kanonji, and he saw the showman hold his hand to the side and there, on the palm of his hand, a tiny, shiny ball of… something started forming.

Kanonji got a fierce look as he thrust the hand holding the ball of Spiritual Energy towards the Hollow. "Kan'onji-ryū Saishū Ōgi! (Kan'onji-Style Final Super Attack) Kan'on Ball!" And he threw it.

It soared towards the Hollow… very slowly, actually. It wasn't so much soar as it was gently float towards the enemy. And the Hollow just looked at it with a curious look on its face before snorting and batting it away with its hand. But the moment the Hollow's hand touched it, the ball of energy exploded quite fantastically for something so small.

Kanonji took on a victorious pose as the creature was engulfed in smoke from the explosion. Rukia had been told by Ichigo that the man could throw around some of his power, but she didn't think he meant this! So understandably, her mouth hung open and she stood unmoving in surprise.

Kanonji looked on as the smoke started to clear, and then three things happened in quick succession.

First, something- no, someone, sped past him and towards the smoke.

Second, the smoke thinned out enough to see the creature behind it was actually quite intact and angry, so it jumped at him with an angry howl.

And third, and in Ichigo's opinion, incredibly awesome, Yasutora Sado, also known as Chad, smashed the Hollow in the face with his right elbow.

The Hollow now fell back, holding both hands to its mask as it nearly cracked, the world looked very funny as it fell down to the… ground?

No, something stopped his fall, two powerful arms now held the creature in an embrace from behind, and then lifted it up, turned it upside down with ease, and then smashed its head against the sidewalk in a perfectly executed Texas Piledriver.

* * *

><p>"<em>Ichigo, the dumbest thing you've ever done in your life is not bringing popcorn today."<em>

Ichigo actually agreed.

* * *

><p>The Hollow currently knew only pain, but it was now in full survival mode, so the dizziness started to disappear and it was about to stand from where it lay when it suddenly felt as if someone had shot cannonball at its back.<p>

Sado had no idea how to go about this, he just saw the creature was about to get dangerous and started attacking, the Piledriver was something he'd wanted to try for a while, but doing that to anyone he fought would have been a guaranteed kill, and he was no murderer. The same could not be said of this creature, so he felt it was fair game.

Anything to protect, he felt. He was a prideful person, and nothing made him feel prouder about himself than to protect those who needed it. His Abuelo (Grandfather) always in his mind.

He followed up on his attack by climbing a little over halfway up a utility pole, looking over his shoulder at the now-recovering creature, then jumped off the pole, executing a backflip mid-air and landing on with his kneed on the monster's back.

* * *

><p>"<em>That's the most amazing Moonsault I've ever had the opportunity to see."<em>

No need to mention who said that, they both thought the same.

* * *

><p>Rukia couldn't believe what he was seeing, or the fact that she felt kind of bad for the ludicrous beating that the Hollow was getting from Chad. She was about to join the fight, but then she saw him pull off that crazy leap and decided that maybe Chad could handle this.<p>

Sado got off the creature, it's bony, frog-like head was up in a silent scream, and then it slumped, seemingly unconscious.

"Amazing! Simply amazing! Defeating a dark spirit with only the power of human strength!" Don Kanonji was now standing next to him patting his back in a congratulatory gesture, "Tell me, young man, have you ever considered-"

"Watch out!"

Rukia's warning came too late and Sado only had enough time to push away Kanonji as the creature leapt at them, grabbing onto Sado with its clawed hands. He held onto its wrists with and pulled to get it off him, but the creature's claws had begun painfully sinking onto his skin, then he saw it rear its head back and open its mouth as if to bite his head off, so he did the next thing that came to mind. He held the creature by the arms, close to its shoulders.

Then he pulled. He pulled really hard.

The creature's arms came off rather easily, actually, spraying a rather dark-looking blood. It screamed once again, much harder than before and Sado took a step back before switching his hold on both of the creature's loose arms, holding them by their wrists, then proceeded to smash the creature's body and face with them repeatedly.

* * *

><p>"<em>Ichigo, your status as the person I like the most in this world was just taken by the Mexican fellow who beat up a Hollow with its own limbs."<em>

* * *

><p>The screaming turned into bloody gurgling as the creature now resembled the inside of a pulpy fruit, and a panting Sado finally let go of the arms he had been using as blunt weapons. He heard some clapping behind him and turned to see Don Kanonji again trying to congratulate him. Then he heard the creature move, again, and he turned around while throwing a punch.<p>

It connected, harder than he thought it would, and the monster crashed through the ruined hospital's walls.

Sado would have gone after it, but he was currently focused on his right arm.

It didn't look anything like his arm. It was all black with a magenta strip running down its whole length, outlined by a white line, looking as if it was covered in armor. It fanned out of his shoulder in an upward extension that was only a quarter of an inch lower than his head. Said extension was parted in two, the divide only reaching his shoulder. His wrist had two wing-like protrusions on either side. It looked a bit like a rocket, or a sports car, now that he squinted at it.

"_Brazo Derecho del Gigante." _(Right Arm of the Giant) He nodded inwardly, that was a fitting name. Though he had no idea why he wasn't freaking out about it right now.

* * *

><p>The Hollow dug itself out of the rubble, it was badly beat up but its arms had finally regenerated, just a few more moments and-<p>

Then it knew no more.

Ichigo put his sword back on his back and ran his other hand through his hair as he saw the rest of the Hollow disappear.

"_Well, overall, we can say that today's experiment was a success."_

"_I suppose the results make me feel a bit better about it."_

He took a look outside of the building through one of the windows, and saw Rukia retreating as Sado nodded profusely at whatever Kanonji was telling him, his right arm was back to normal.

"_That power has a funny feeling to it, but I believe we can safely say that as long as Chad remains Chad, we can safely give him anything and trust him to be alright."_

"_True enough."_

Well, it was time to get back home; he'd take the scenic route and actually keep an eye out for Hollows as he did, though. He had to keep up the act, after all.

"_You'll eventually have to tell her all about this, you know."_

"_I'll tell her if she asks or if it comes up. I don't like lying. Not to her."_

* * *

><p>Rukia looked up from Ichigo's pillow as she heard the door to Ichigo's room open. She was lying on her stomach with her head on top of the pillow to peruse her sketchbook in a more comfortable position next to Ichigo's body.<p>

"Yo." Ichigo greeted her lazily.

"You're late." Rukia closed her sketchbook and glared at him.

"I didn't know I had a time to get home now." Ichigo raised an eyebrow.

She huffed, "Well, you do now. I had to pretend to be sleeping next to you a while ago so your dad wouldn't try to wake you up."

Ichigo's raised eyebrow was joined by the other, "Huh." He then dismissed the whole situation by jumping into his body.

"So, any Hollows around town?"

"Nah, the whole place was devoid of them. I wish days like this came when I'm minding my own business and not actually patrolling."

"Not all days can be exciting." She used the pillow to stifle a giggle. Ichigo smiled, "You're not telling me something." He told the laughing girl.

"If I told you, you wouldn't believe me."

Ichigo inwardly smirked. "Oh really? Try me."

* * *

><p>That's a wrap.<p>

Well, not much to say other than sorry about the delay, but it really went out of my hands. This chapter should have been out at least three weeks ago, but then I got hard-headed and wanted to check the previous ones and touch them up a little bit, halfway through that I got a lot of work dumped on me by my university.

And when I finally finished all that work, the country entered an emergency state due to floods caused by heavy rains, so classes were suspended in four or so states, including mine. I figured that gave me some more free time, then I got an email saying at least 3 professors had agreed that now that we had some time, they could give us more work. I'm not kidding. I finally wrapped everything up two days ago and got around finishing my reviewing of the previous chapters.

This was a bit of a filler chapter, I had to bring in Chad somehow, and this moment with Kanonji seemed perfect.

Some reviewers pointed out that it felt weird to have a Japanese techniques being numbered in English, as I did with all Kidō here, so I changed it to # + number. If you wish to hear it in either language, do so in your mind… what? Am I the only one who hears the voices? I also changed an incantation I got wrong, which I found a bit embarrassing. Must have been real sleepy or something.

I am also a little bit surprised people haven't pointed out the differences in difficulty that Ichigo has faced, Grand Fisher could tell what lure to use against him without even touching him. The day he met Rukia a load of Hollows were attacking his home rather than just the one. There have been a few hints here and there, I even made Urahara say it, but I guess I wasn't blunt enough:

This is Bleach Hard Mode. Things aren't going to be so easy for my Ichigo as if I'd just dumped him in the canon universe. Though any difficulties I do bring up will come as a consequence of his actions, it means the game will be harder. He's a force of change, after all. The greater he is the more things change around him.

I feel like I should upload the next one before the next week hits, but I kind of want to get around beating Arc Rise Fantasia and Dead Island (Video Games, for those who live in pineapples under the sea). But then again, I feel like I should give you guys a treat for my delays.

I also feel like I should get a beta reader already, I'm pretty sure I missed a lot of mistakes, hmmm…

Ah well, food for thought.

- Flameal out.


	11. Chapter ten Landscaping and Gundams

Disclaimer: After finally getting a job as the youngest English teacher ever in a high school filled with students the same age as I am, I managed to buy Bleach – to do some long-overdue washing. I'd need a job that pays at least four thousand times more than mine does if I want to own Bleach. A job I don't have – I'll just shut up now, I'm making myself feel bad.

This chapter is brought to you by my New Year hopes! All one of them.

The First Guardian

Chapter Ten – Landscaping and Gundams

"Have you tried asking Chad to help you? He's pretty strong."

"I'm quite sure I am stronger than he is right now. Don't try denying it; I've caught you staring when I come out wearing only a towel."

Rukia groaned at Ichigo's answer. They were currently in the outskirts of Karakura, skipping class for reasons only Ichigo knew until she found him trying to pull out what looked like a big metallic brick.

Big was putting it mildly, though. It was at least the size of a car and according to Ichigo, it was at least three times longer than it looked – the rest was buried underground.

"What is this thing here anyways?" Rukia asked while knocking on the big block, proving it was not hollowed out in the slightest.

Ichigo just tilted his head as his face lit up happily, as if he had been expecting the question, "Why, it's my latest experiment of course."

Rukia's eyes widened, and before she interrogated him further took one, then two, and finally three dozen steps away from the solid mass of metal.

"Experiment? You somehow ended up making this? And what do you mean 'latest'? What else have you done?" She was nearly hysterical towards the end. For all she liked Ichigo, she knew he was absurdly dangerous to himself, but, as it turned out, anything dangerous to him was usually large enough in scale to put everything and everyone around him in even more danger.

Ichigo had to resist rolling his eyes as he motioned her to get closer again, "Jeez, relax, princess. It's just my Zanpakutō."

Five seconds of silence came after that. Then those five seconds turned into ten. And by the time they became twenty seconds Rukia was once more next to him. When the thirty second mark hit she was taking a deep breath and out of her mouth came a very, perhaps scarily so, calm, "What."

Ichigo could have sworn that if it had been written, it would have lacked a question mark.

"It's my Zanpa-"

And that was the second time in all of her existence that Kuchiki Rukia managed to smack Ichigo. In the back of her mind, she realized there was probably a pattern of situations she could exploit to manage such feat more consistently.

"I heard what you said perfectly clear! What the hell do you mean this is your Zanpakutō? Wait…" Rukia got a bewildered look on her face, "Is this your Shikai?" The last question was somewhat less incredulous than the previous ones were, she really wouldn't have been very surprised if Ichigo's Zanpakutō was this. That last thought made her fear for her own mental health.

Ichigo actually rolled his eyes this time, "No, and you're a very silly, perhaps mildly retarded, person for even considering that." He turned around to deliberately ignore the glare he was sure she would be sporting.

Normally, Rukia wouldn't have fallen for this game, in which she asked a question, got a half answer for it and even more questions, until she was so frustrated that the actual answer was pretty underwhelming. After all, it was a game Ichigo liked very much, and abused it to get out of trouble. It was quite normal to feel less troubled by something when it turns out to be smaller than what you had fooled yourself into thinking it was. Even if it was actually a pretty big deal and made Ichigo an ass for playing with your mind like that. This time the goal of the game wasn't that, of course. He just wanted to piss her off.

Right now, however, Rukia had just been told that a gigantic block of seemingly unbreakable steel was buried mostly underground and to top it all, she was told it was a Zanpakutō. So forgive her for falling for it this time.

"Then what the hell is it?"

"I told you, it's my Zanpakutō."

"Why is it a gigantic metal block?"

"Because that was part of my experiment?"

"What experiment?"

"The one that made my Zanpakutō a block, of course."

She was starting to hyperventilate, she was really, really annoyed and Ichigo was glad he had his back turned otherwise his extremely smug grin would have given him away. He decided to stop; after all, he kind of wanted to gloat right now.

"So you remember how I changed my sword's density by manipulating the spirit particles that made it up, right?"

Rukia stopped seething now that he was apparently going to give her answers, so she answered quickly, "Yes."

"Good, so I wanted to see just how I could go about changing it by adding and in some cases removing particles from both around, to play with forms, and inside, to play with density, of my sword just to see what I could actually do with it."

Rukia had thought about that a week or so after his initial experiment to toughen up his sword, actually. But figured Ichigo wasn't keen on trying any further than that after he nearly blew himself up. She was obviously wrong.

"How did it go?"

Ichigo finally turned to face her with a victorious face – or was that a mad scientist grin? "It was a success! I managed to turn my sword from a massive broadsword to a simple katana, then from that into a decently-sized hammer, and then into a kusarigama (chain-sickle), and many, many other cool things."

"_Things from manga and videogames, you mean."_

"_Quiet, you."_

Rukia nodded and pretended to only be mildly curious as she stated her next question as, after all, the more curious Ichigo saw you, the more tempted he was to not tell you anything, "And how did this," she pointed at the huge block, "happen?"

Now Ichigo frowned, "Well, after all of that I tried to see if I had any limits, manipulating spirit particles can't just be _that_ easy, after all. Otherwise everyone would be doing it."

Rukia's eye twitched, then decided not to tell him that he was doing something that would make quite a few people curious enough to open him up and check just how the hell he did things. That could only encourage him further.

"Oh yeah, there's a very interesting experiment involving the conversion of spirit particles into hard metal alloys that I did not take into consideration before. It opens oh-so-many delicious possibilities…" Ichigo trailed off with a very hopeful look as he stared far into the future, and Rukia felt shivers go up and down her spine.

"Anyways, so I tested my limits. I made my Zanpakutō as large and dense as I could without any regards to shape, initially, at least. I thought up a shape halfway through it as I didn't want to end up with a huge, hard, blob. The first thing that came to mind is a square, which then turned into a block, mostly because I hate boxes, I guess."

That was another story Rukia didn't want to hear.

"So I had this massive block attached to a handle as large as I am, but that was okay, I could lift it, it wasn't as heavy as it looked." That was pretty normal, Rukia figured. Zanpakutō are always lighter for their owners.

Ichigo now had an embarrassed look on his face, "Then a flock of birds flew by me and I got a bit distracted trying to hit them with it – then I kind of dropped my brick."

"_I am not a brick."_

"_Don't worry; I'll love you even if you're a fat-ass."_

"_Asshole."_

"Funny thing about bricks, they have the most interesting tendency of doing the exact opposite thing to floating. So it fell half a thousand or so feet down to the ground, and buried itself handle-first." Ichigo finished it with a shrug.

Rukia blinked before deciding to ignore how ridiculous it all was and going straight for the problem, "So why can't you pull it out? You were able to lift it before." She was starting to speculate if maybe his powers over the Zanpakutō disappeared upon letting go of the handle, then he answered.

"Well, as anyone with even the slightest understanding of how things work could tell you, when you put things in the ground, the ground itself is displaced instead of conveniently disappearing." He figured it being convenient only applied to the current situation, "And I kind of lied to you about how big it is."

She kept her not-really-curious look as she asked, "How much did you lie to me?"

"I'm fairly sure this hill we're standing on wasn't here before I dropped my brick."

Now her eyes bulged as she looked around the apparently just-made hill – that was quite a bit of displaced earth!

"And well, pulling it out will leave a hole that will then fill itself with all the dirt around – which will inevitably result in a little bit more than the usual landscaping I allow myself to do during my experiments."

She nodded while silently wondering just when he gave a damn about the land.

"It's bound to be hilarious, but innocent critters live around here, and they could get pulled underground along with their homes – which I figure are already in a little bit of disarray from the whole creating-a-hill thing I did."

She raised an eyebrow and looked at him, "I thought you didn't like animals?"

Ichigo looked offended, "I do like animals!"

"Then why do you go around hitting birds?"

"I fucking hate birds."

"You named one of your attacks after the Phoenix."

"I named it after the Phoenix's _fire,_ not after the bird itself. Fuck the bird."

"_I'm changing the name of that technique at the first chance I get."_

"_As long as it's not dragons. Overused as all hells."_

She snorted, when he started swearing it meant he was serious, even if the context made it funny.

"So what are you planning to do?"

Ichigo leaned against his transformed Zanpakutō and took on a thinking pose, it was a one she was used to seeing and knew she wasn't the only one to think he looked 'cute' or maybe 'cool' while doing it – Tatsuki and Orihime thought the same, as well as several other girls from school – in which he put his left arm across his body under his right elbow while twirling a lock of his long orange hair on his right hand, he faced the ground as he did so while his usual frown became less pronounced – it looked as if he was relaxed, even.

"That's the problem; I have no idea how to go about it. I obviously have to refill the hole so that it doesn't suck in everything around it, but I have no idea what to fill it with or how I would carry all of it here, or even how to put it in as I pull out my Zanpakutō."

"_This is one of those moments I remember that building company that left town some time ago, they really missed out."_ Ichigo's Zanpakutō was being as unhelpful as its own sense of humor allowed.

"What if we ask Urahara?"

Ichigo grimaced, all his thoughts currently crashing against each other, "I don't like owing that man favors, I already owe him one too many."

"You do? Why?"

"I asked him to install a whole network in all of the girls' facilities at school." Ichigo had an 'I did something right' look on his face as he said it all.

"You… didn't, did you?" She was starting to radiate as little Reiatsu as her weakened state allowed.

Ichigo snorted, "Of course not, you gullible midget. I could easily install those cameras myself." He waved her off as if the answer was obvious.

Said person of small stature facepalmed.

Ichigo sighed, "Well, I suppose we have no better option at this point in time. Can you go get the geta-weirdo here? My sword would get unbearably bitchy if I go and leave him here."

Rukia nodded and left. Had she known that she would be leaving behind a Kurosaki Ichigo that was now enraptured in the subject of Zanpakutō and their nature; she would have tried to knock him out first.

* * *

><p>"You're walking funny."<p>

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

Rukia was now walking beside Urahara Kisuke, followed by the other three inhabitants of the Urahara-Shōten.

The man, upon hearing the nature of Rukia's request, had agreed suspiciously fast and then made 'preparations' while moving around faster than an ill person should.

He also apparently had a cold, and walked funny, though she figured he had his reasons for not wanting to admit it.

"I am actually surprised something like this didn't happen sooner or quite more often, actually." Urahara said as they neared the newly-formed hill.

Rukia figured she knew the answer to that one, but still asked for the sake of keeping conversation going, "How so?"

"He reminds me a lot of myself, you see."

She nearly did a double-take, "You're nothing alike!"

"Hmmm… maybe so. Yes, the less the better…" He was now muttering to himself and hiding his whole expression behind his trademark fan.

She would have pursued the subject but they had finally arrived at their destination.

"Wow, now, I've seen quite a few big ones in my life. But yours takes the cake, Ichigo. You must be very proud."

The Shinigami girl felt there was something she wasn't getting.

"I am, actually. So are you here to gawk at the size or to help me with getting rid of said enlargement?"

It was tickling the back of her mind, and she was growing frustrated.

"Well, I can't pull it out. It's too large for me to even wrap my arms around."

"I'll pull it out, but I guess I'd need some sort of lubricant first to not tear up the hole too much."

Then she got it, proceeded to nod to herself in congratulations, and then grabbed the back of their heads and smashed them against the steel block.

"Would you two cut it out already?"

They rubbed their heads in badly-faked embarrassment, and then proceeded to talk in hushed whispers. Rukia didn't like that, it made shivers go down her spine and she made sure the two knew it.

"What're you two talking about now?"

Ichigo turned to look at her, "Well," he had a funny smile on his face, "Kisuke here – bright fellow that he is, just told me how amazingly convenient it is that I dug a hole he had been looking forward to digging himself." He turned to look at the shop owner, who continued the explanation, "And then I told him I'd get him some naked pictures of Yoruichi, my hot female assistant, if he would let me make use of the fruit of his bird-hunting for the greater good." Kisuke said it all while tapping the ground around the sword – or block – with a cane.

Rukia was seriously beginning to regret suggesting Urahara came over to help – putting those two together meant bad things would happen. And she'd probably end up caught up in it.

"Greater Good?" She asked.

"Goodness, no. If you capitalize the words it makes it sound like some sort of Machiavellian plan I've got going. I just mean a good that is greater than the usual good. Like helping old ladies cross the street, or saving a life in the Operation Room. Mine is much better than all that codswallop."

Rukia didn't know what bothered her more, what Urahara said, the way he said it, or that Ichigo was nodding along with it.

Urahara closed his fan and tapped Ichigo's left shoulder with it while giving him a big smile, "Alright, let's begin. Everyone get to their positions!"

Rukia watched with thinly-veiled curiosity as Tessai, Jinta and Ururu took positions on every side of the block, with Ichigo holding onto it from one of the corners.

"Ready? Alright Ichigo, pull that beauty out!"

And pull he did. Although Rukia had not known what to expect, she most definitely couldn't be prepared by what looked like a hundred and fifty feet of massive metallic block to fly faster than anything that big should be able to in such a short time. The earth shook for a second and Rukia's attention was pulled from the now smaller chunk of metal to the hole it had left behind.

Or well, she would have looked at it if it weren't for the fact that there was now a rather sizeable tent around it. A stripped tent, colored green and white, with a sign that said 'People Working' along with a cartoon Kisuke Urahara wearing a hard hat and his fan. She could hear the sound of hammering – absurdly fast hammering and… running water?

"Relax Kuchiki-san. We specialize in this sort of thing at the Urahara-Shōten." Spoke the man with a shop named after him from Rukia's right. She turned towards him with a bewildered look on her face.

"How did you do this so fast? Better question, what the heck is this?"

The man in the bucket hat just kept fanning his face, the motion let Rukia see the amused smile he probably wore any time he wasn't sleeping. Maybe he slept like that, too. Ichigo certainly frowned in his sleep.

"Just boring stuff, really. Don't worry about it, Ichigo sure doesn't."

"_Ichigo doesn't worry about absolutely anything at all. Ever." _She wanted to say that, but she supposed it wasn't true – Ichigo just didn't let his worries show. His burdens were his own, after all. She kept herself from sighing, she liked that, it was a testament to his strength and will, but that attitude never led anywhere good. "_Ichigo can't carry the world and remain unchanged."_ She wouldn't tell him that, he'd probably try to find a way to do it just to prove her wrong.

Ichigo landed next to her, his sword now a manageable size. Manageable for him, at least. "So are we done here?" The question as directed at Urahara.

"I think we- oh, wait." He snapped his fan shut and motioned for Ichigo to get closer. They were once more speaking in whispers, and Rukia knew better than to try to pry, but it didn't stop her eye from twitching when she saw Urahara hand Ichigo a box. "_He said something about pictures." _She was getting pissed off now.

"Alright, let's get out of here. Rukia, where's Kon?" Ichigo asked as they walked away from the noise caused by – whatever was happening under that tent.

"Knocked out. What did he give you?" Rukia's tone was ice-cold. It had been a while since she last spoke like that, and she was not a little bit out of practice. Her Nii-sama would be proud.

"You knocked him out? He's gonna be absolutely unbearable the rest of the day." Ichigo completely ignored her question, which only served to make her tone even more venomous.

"Ichigo. Box. Is it pictures?"

"Seriously, I'm gonna have to leave him as a pill, and he really hates that. He has a calendar now; he knows what days he misses-"

"Kurosaki Ichigo!"

"_You're in trouble."_

"_She looks-"_

"_Hot when angry? Sexy?"_

"_Sure, whatever."_

Ichigo sighed, "Yes, Rukia. They are pictures. Pictures of a very sexy woman. Naked."

Rukia's eye twitched, "I see." She turned away from him, but refrained from just writing the whole thing off and being angry with him until god-knows-when, "_He has a reason. He better do."_

For the first time since they had met, Ichigo actually took on a defensive tone, "It's not like I want them because I want to look at a naked woman- I mean, uh…" he took a deep breath, "I don't want them for any reason Keigo and Mizuiro would want them for."

Rukia did not expect him to explain himself in such an apologetic manner, she smiled inwardly, this was probably a good sign, "Then what do you want them for?"

Ichigo's tone went full-on lecture mode, "You see: Yoruichi Shihōin is not a modest person when it comes to her body. She's actually a bit of an exhibitionist, so normally pictures like this would not bother her at all," Ichigo now had a winner's smirk, "But see, she only likes having her body exposed with her consent, and these particular pictures are ones she does not know about. Taken during the period of time in which she still was captain of the second division, as well as commander of the Onmitsukidō. Back then, there were rumors running all over Seireitei about how the second division captain liked to prance around her home in her birthday suit. Rumors started by the one person who actually managed to see it as well as collect evidence on it – evidence I now hold."

Rukia apparently understood, "Blackmail?"

"Partly, yeah. As I said, even though she's not modest about her body, back then she had a reputation to maintain. And as I said, she was _prancing_, as in, literally. While naked." He let out a chuckle as he shook his head, "Another reason is that these are, well, pictures of a naked Yoruichi Shihōin, people would give several limbs for one of these." He looked her in the eye, "Naturally, I would never play with her privacy like this, but circumstances always change."

Rukia accepted his explanation, and then felt a bit silly, so she tried to switch the subject, "Are you always this prepared?"

Ichigo snorted, "I have a silver cross and several rolls of duct tape under my bed, a box in a location only I know about in case an Ichigo Kurosaki from the future deems sending me a message necessary, I carry picklocks in all of my shoes, I secretly own a car I keep parked on the other side of town, I had Kisuke make fake European passports for the both of us, I own a condo in Tokyo that I bought while disguised as a foreign woman by the name of 'Falsa', I bought the warehouse my sister's bodyguards use as base so that I could legally build a separate room large enough to fit a Gundam, just in case I do get a Gundam."

Rukia blinked, "What?"

"Hey, I'm Japanese. We're practically born with both the right to like Gundams, and to be crazy at some level. Be glad I only have one of those traits."

* * *

><p>"Are you done yet?" Ichigo yelled at his room's door. Rukia was taking longer than usual to get ready.<p>

"You haven't told me what we're doing today!"

When they got home after the whole sword-block mishap, Ichigo got back into his body and – after getting dressed – told Rukia to put on something comfortable yet pretty to go out.

"I told you, woman. We're going downtown."

The door to his room opened, and Rukia stepped out wearing a dress and matching sandals. It was a cyan dress adorned with pink cherry petals at the hem. The sandals had the same color scheme.

"_She has pretty feet."_

"_I hope this doesn't turn into a fetish."_

"_Go fuck yourself."_

Ichigo smiled at her curious look, he wasn't wearing much she hadn't seen before, plain jeans and brown shoes, a brown jacket and under it his favorite 1-5 shirt. Both he and his Zanpakutō admitted it was a horrible pun, but they both liked the faces people made when he introduced himself wearing that shirt.

"Very well, princess. Time to go."

Rukia wasn't just going to let it go like that, "Where, exactly, are we going? And why is this so much different from when we usually go out?"

Ichigo opened the front door of the Kurosaki home and gave her an elegant, over-the-top bow as she stepped out, "We're going wherever we want to go when we get there. And it's different because this time, it's a date, princess."

Rukia stopped.

Then she resumed walking, putting up an amused front, "I… Okay." She smiled outwardly.

Inwardly, however, she was panicking.

She was panicking _hard._

Her mind was currently the equivalent of a galaxy-wide catastrophe that brought the planets together and threw them at every gas giant known and unknown – and then those _exploded_.

Kuchiki Rukia was a typical, high-ranked noblewoman. She was highly educated both as a noble and a Shinigami. When she was not working, she was expected to be the perfect lady, witty, charming, self-sufficient and most importantly, prepared.

She was taught how to proceed in every single scenario that the Kuchiki family could face, from minor economical problems to the clan's near-extinction. She had spent the time she was not training or working preparing for everything. Despite what Ichigo might think, she adapted pretty fast to the human world, and anyone else in her position would still be panicking over every little thing. She had great social skills that she could adapt to be more fitting in the human world – thing weren't so much different, really. Well, except for one thing that was completely different, it was also the reason she was panicking harder than a roach in chicken party.

Courting.

Relationships in the human world, the romantic ones, were completely different from those of the noble families in the Seireitei. Or at least the development was. Most, if not all, marriages in the noble families were arranged out of convenience, fancy, or tradition. She was trained for all of those situations and every possible variation of it, from proper wording of proposals to procedures to deal with an adulterous spouse.

Now, in the human world, none of that mattered. Everyone, or at least most people, met someone they came to love, and the relationship was nurtured over time before even thinking about formalization, some did it fast, others slower, and some didn't even marry. It was always about mutual, selfish interest, _love._

She had absolutely no idea what to do. Does she go about it normally? Is she expected to do something? Wasn't he supposed to propose an encounter of that kind before it happened? Was he? Did her silence imply she accepted? Was this all normal? How was she going to keep up a normal act when, of all the people, it was Kurosaki Goddamn Ichigo that had just decided they were going on a date?

Before her thoughts turned towards the future of that sort of relationship she felt someone's – _Ichigo's_ right hand holding her left hand. She turned to see him smile reassuringly.

"Hey, calm down. I don't expect you to do anything. Let me take the lead, and if at any point you feel like ending it, then we will. Just think of it as any other day."

"_If only you believed half the crap you just said."_

"_If only you would shut up for the rest of the day. I should shut you out."_

"_You can do that?"_

"_I can try."_

"_I'll be good. Don't wanna miss your first, non-consensual, date."_

Ichigo frowned and looked at his hand holding hers, "It's probably too late to do this, I just wanted to avoid the awkwardness of it all, but… Do you want to go out on this date with me?"

Rukia thought about it, actually. She knew what date meant, that's why she had panicked. In the human world, a date was usually the beginning of the pursuit for a romantic relationship. She wouldn't fool herself thinking any reason to reject him would involve her not being attracted to him. Reasons she could think about included: One, a surely tumultuous future for the relationship, of which she couldn't quite grasp the full ramifications. And two, she was too damn nervous to make any proper judgments, because she really had no idea what the hell she was supposed to do.

She felt like an actor thrown to the scenario, with no clothes on, doing a play written in an unknown language without knowing a single one of the lines, in front of every person on the world.

"I…" She looked down at their intertwined hands, she chastised herself for being like this, she was usually confident enough to go through everything; she would have broken down by now otherwise. Then looked at Ichigo's hand, it was his fault she was like this. Then she smiled, "_So he better take responsibility."_ It was him; after all, he wouldn't bite unless she bit him first. Or it was Friday on an odd day on a month ending with the letter 'R'. Or something equally ridiculous.

"Okay." She nodded, and turned her smile towards him.

Ichigo nodded back and they resumed walking, neither letting go of the other's hand.

* * *

><p>They didn't walk too much long after that before they arrived at downtown Karakura, it still was an hour or so before sundown, and everywhere was filled with people. They just kept walking until something caught their eye, and then they'd have some fun. Ichigo found out Rukia could make a crane machine's crane actually look like it wasn't weaker than a baby's grip. And before they got kicked out of the soda fountain the crane machine was in due to her absurd skill with it, she managed to win a bunny plushy she insisted on calling 'Chappy' like the rabbit she liked to draw so much, even if it was a rather realistic bunny plushy, unlike Chappy the Rabbit, who was rather cartoonish.<p>

He smiled through it all, and laughed when every other toy she won at the crane machine was abandoned at the entrance as they left.

"I can't believe they just give these away!" Rukia said hugging the bunny to her chest.

"They don't, you have to put some coins in it."

"It's still too cheap! Isn't it?"

"It… yeah, I guess so." He shook his head and kept walking; it was still just the beginning.

They entered an amusement park next, and Rukia discovered roller coasters. And there went the rest of their day, actually. She really, really liked roller coasters. After their first time, she immediately demanded they let her get on again, and Ichigo informed her she had to get in the line again.

It was funny to see her pouting over that, but Ichigo and his sword agreed that it was even funnier when she considered using her memory modifier to cut into the line.

It was now dark, and Rukia had finally decided they should do something else, and then she spotted a Ferris wheel.

"What's that, Ichigo?" She pointed at it.

"It's a Ferris wheel, it's a calm ride, you just spin slowly, people get on it mostly to enjoy a quit time while looking at the town from on high."

"What for? I can do that from the roller coaster."

"You can't have a quiet time on a roller coaster."

"_You can't make out on a roller coaster, either."_

"_Fair enough, guess you have a point."_

"Let's get on it, Rukia." Ichigo walked ahead of her before she could protest, not that she would. So far the day had been about her having fun. If Ichigo wanted to get on the slow, seemingly boring ride, she would indulge him. Just this time, though.

The line was shorter, with either parents and their smallest children or couples. It was only a couple of minutes before they got on.

At first Rukia wasn't all that impressed, and then she caught sight of Karakura town at night from above. It wasn't that much of a big town, and she HAD seen it before, but it was a different experience to see it during her fun time rather than while working. "_Not that I got to do much done, anyways."_ She frowned at that thought.

Ichigo had been pensive the whole ride, sitting in front of her, supporting his head with his hands, elbows on his knees and intertwined hands covering the lower half of his face.

"Rukia."

The Shinigami girl turned from the view and looked at her date. That thought still made her feel funny.

"Hmm?"

"I've been meaning to ask, but… don't you miss your Zanpakutō?"

Rukia didn't expect a work-related question, much less one being asked in such a worried manner. "Actually, I…"

She blinked.

She had not been in conversation with Sode no Shirayuki since the night she gave Ichigo her powers. She had missed the familiar feel of her sword at her hip and it was always reassuring to know there was someone else at her side at all times. She realized, however, things were different for Ichigo.

"It's not like you, Ichigo."

Ichigo's hand fell from his face and he leaned back on his seat.

"What do you mean?"

Rukia sat up straight, her hands playing with the hem of her dress, she spoke with a somewhat confused frown, "Well… we Shinigami develop a link with our Zanpakutō, they are, after all, what make us what we are. Once we reach a level of understanding, our full abilities are made available. We can refine those in order to make ourselves stronger, our Zanpakutō going with us all the way. However, Shinigami and their Zanpakutō are more like comrades rather than close friends. And I don't think there's anyone who has even heard of anything like the link you and your sword share. He's with you at all times, his thoughts come to you as if they were your own. You're close, very close, so that's why I guess you would miss him terribly if he went away."

"_I feel special."_

"_You are, as in Special Olympics, that is."_

"I guess I do miss my partner, somewhat. But not in the way I would miss you or any of my close friends." She blushed a bit after she said that, but didn't lose her pensive face, "I wonder how you came to develop this link…" She looked at the floor, lost in thought.

Ichigo smiled, "Rukia…" She turned her look back towards him, "Thanks." He gave her a very grateful smile.

Rukia's heart skipped a beat, it was the combination of his smile, plus the several levels of gratitude that word included in it, that made her suddenly forget that breathing was something everyone was meant to do.

"Don't… don't be silly! Anyone who knew would have explained that to you if you'd asked!" She was getting flustered, and was trying to pass it off as if it was just thanks for the lecture. They both knew it was thanks for well, a lot of things.

Ichigo chuckled and reached with his right hand into his jacket. His hand returned with a box held in his hands.

"Here, take this."

Rukia took the box from his hand and examined it, it was brown, wooden, and large enough to fit two sheets of paper side-to-side, and it was-

It was the box Urahara had given him.

"I don't want these pictures!" She suddenly held it away from her as if it was venomous.

Ichigo rolled his eyes, "Don't be silly, I already removed the pictures. I didn't get just that from Kisuke, you know."

Rukia frowned and looked at the box; it was still a box with something Urahara Kisuke had given to Ichigo, which was enough to make her worry. And when did they get on a first-name basis anyways?

"Go ahead, open it. I'm not gifting you a box, you know."

Rukia slowly, hesitantly, opened the wooden box. She then got a look inside, and she didn't know what to think for a second.

Ichigo looked a bit embarrassed, "I, uh, couldn't find any like those in the human world, so I asked Kisuke to have those made."

Rukia pulled out of the box a- a set of crayons.

Chappy themed crayons.

There were 64 crayons, far more colors than she had ever used before and every single one of them had Chappy the Rabbit's face on them.

"Do you like-"

Then two things happened, the door to their cabin opened, which meant the ride was over and they had to get off, but that was slightly less important seeing as the other thing that happened was Ichigo receiving the mother of all bear-hugs and having the breath knocked out of him by said hug, all courtesy of the half-Shinigami, half-cuddly projectile Kuchiki Rukia. He did not care one whit about breath, though.

"_Told you she would love them."_

"_I never said she wouldn't."_

* * *

><p>They were now home, and this was another part of the date that wouldn't be normal. The rule was that the guy would walk the girl home, they'd say their goodnights, which could be different depending on the number of successful dates so far, and then he'd leave for home happy guy. Or he wouldn't, but that was something for considerably more advanced relationships.<p>

The thing is, Rukia kind of lives with him, so the date would have to end with him walking her to his, or her, closet.

"_I don't remember how it looked like inside."_

So there they were, both smiling after their successful date. Ichigo decided to cut the not-so-uncomfortable silence.

"Well, I guess that's it, uh, good night, Rukia."

The girl nodded at him, holding both the plushy and the crayon box to her chest, and turned to enter her closet.

Ichigo looked at the closet for a few moments after it closed, he then changed into more comfortable sleepwear and jumped onto his bed, the silence in his head was broken when his head hit the pillow.

"_I give that goodnight a two out of ten."_

"_Cut me some slack, no kissing on the first date."_

"… _I suppose that's the generally accepted rule."_

Ichigo stared at the ceiling a blank look on his face, then stood up from his bed like a flash, his cover flying all the way to the wall opposite from his bed; he walked towards his closet and knocked.

"Rukia?"

…

"Yes?"

"Are you decent?"

"I changed into my pajamas alrea-"

The closet door suddenly opened and she was temporarily blinded by the sudden light, she had not turned on her dim reading lamp yet, so it took her a moment to become accustomed to it.

"Good." Was all she heard from the now-clear figure of Kurosaki Ichigo before she felt a hand tip her chin up.

And then her brain probably fried.

It came back to life couple of seconds later, and she realized her eyes hurt a bit; they went absurdly wide at some point or another. Oh, and Ichigo was kissing her.

Before everything inside her head got toasted again, she decided to close her eyes and kiss back. It was a chaste kiss, not much of a lip mashing, just a soft, typical goodnight kiss.

They came apart four seconds later, both flustered and breathing deeply, Ichigo nodded with a smile, "Goodnight, Rukia."

Her eyes were half-lidded for a moment, then they opened fully again and she returned Ichigo's gesture, "Goodnight, Ichigo."

Ichigo turned around as the closet door closed behind him, he walked towards his discarded covers and brought them back to bed with him, he laid back down feeling a lot better than when he did it moments before.

"_Screw the rules."_

"_Damn straight."_

* * *

><p>Cut!<p>

Let's end it there for now, this chapter was originally a LOT different from how it currently is. In fact, the whole date scene was scheduled for another chapter, but I decided since I had another long delay that I had to give you romantic types _something_ so that I wouldn't get my inbox murdered. I like my inbox, thank you.

So, once again, sorry for the delay, my computer died, I managed to put another computer together from several other parts and an old motherboard I had lying around. My computer is currently a motherboard and a big mess of wires lying next to my monitor. It can't do crap. It skips frames and gets stuck when I scroll down in a word processor, seriously. But it was enough for me to finish this up and move on to the next, which is actually action-packed, without missing the usual humor.

In other news, I have about three and a half weeks left on this semester and I have no idea what the fuck is going on around me, so I won't be writing again until at least Thursday. I do promise, however, to have the next chapter out by next week at the latest, though I'm hoping to have it ready before Saturday.

On the beta search: I decided to stay as I am for the moment, solo. I do believe a beta reader would do this story wonders, but I feel it would probably slow me down and mess up my current timing. Not to mention I'm a horribly petty, mean person and I don't want anyone reading this before everyone else does.

…

What?

Someone reviewed saying I promised a lemon. I also got several PMs from other people talking about those. I'd like to address this issue by saying: I have no idea when I said that.

If you mean the summary, it says Sexual content, which could mean anything from Ichigo describing to several disturbed bystanders the sexual intercourse of made-up aliens, to particularly descriptive, raunchy, sweaty smut. There's a lot between those two things that would require an M-rating. Truthfully, I'm a bit on the fence about lemons, I've ghost-written a few of them, won't tell you which, so I know I can do it. But… for this story? I don't know.

Oh well, you know the FF dot net drill, leave me your thoughts if you feel like sharing any in a review. Oh, and if you do, could you please tell me what you think about anonymous reviews? I don't think I want to allow those, I'd probably get more if I did, but… again, I don't know.

- Flameal out.


	12. Chapter eleven Butterflies and Bunnies

Disclaimer: A denial, disavowal, or renunciation, as of a title, claim, interest, estate, or trust; relinquishment or waiver of an interest or estate. A public disavowal, as of pretensions, claims, opinions, and the like.

Yeah, what the dictionary says.

This chapter is brought to you by a beach, a fucking beach, I say!

The First Guardian

Chapter Eleven – Birds and the, uh, Butterflies

Mizuiro sighed; today had begun as such a good day. He got his final exam results – he didn't think them too impressive, he only needed a few more points to get into the top 50, but they would do, and he was satisfied with them. Keigo hadn't reacted too badly to his own scores, passing grades, and again nothing to write home about, but at least he took solace in the fact that neither of his friends had done too well.

Then the top 50 list came into Keigo's hands, and Mizuiro absently wondered if jumping out the window would be lethal.

Keigo had overreacted, as always, when he saw Ichigo's name in the first place in their year, followed closely by two other students who had tied for second. It was funny in a way, he thought, he could tell how Keigo would react before he actually did.

First, he would stare blankly, then his eyes would widen comically, then he would begin to hyperventilate, his nostrils flaring as the color in his face either drained or became more vibrant – it depended on what had surprised him. Then he would bring his hands to his head and scream to the heavens about how unfair it all was, then he'd direct his screams towards what he figured was a deserving target.

It wasn't a big surprise, not for Mizuiro. It hadn't been the first time it happened, and Keigo knew that as well, but neither had thought Ichigo could pull it off again – not when he had missed more classes and had apparently goofed off more than ever.

They were currently sitting on the rooftop, not long after the latest Keigo freak-out. Everyone was - even the new girl, Rukia. Ichigo, however, was not.

Thinking about his friend – his grades, his attitude, his tendency to pull off crazy stunts, his apparently like for fighting, always made Mizuiro smile.

It was because Mizuiro knew Ichigo, perhaps not more than his other friends, but certainly in a way the others didn't.

Ichigo had once, long ago, been the first person to, as he said, 'Call Mizuiro out on his bullshit', he was also the first person to punch him in the face as he did. Also the first, and so far only, person he had opened up to.

All three events are connected.

To Mizuiro, it came straight out of the left field, Ichigo had seemed irritated by something for some time; and after a few days it only seemed to get worse. Then one day, when Keigo had been sick and they were both walking to his place to check up on him after school, Mizuiro brought it up.

He'd never forget that afternoon.

* * *

><p>"Say, Ichigo?" Mizuiro asked the orange-haired student walking next to him. His hair was longer than ever, he noted, it seemed as if he was going to let it grow long, so far it didn't look bad.<p>

A curious grunt was his only answer, Ichigo just kept on looking ahead, his pack slung over his right shoulder and his left hand on his pocket. He was scowling more than usual.

"Are you upset over something? Lately you seem a bit more… aggressive, is the word, I guess."

Ichigo's eyes turned to regard his shorter friend, his eyes off the road ahead and yet not slowing down his pace. He seemed to be considering something.

"Mizuiro." The carrot-top stopped walking and turned to regard his now-surprised friend, he obviously had not expected the serious tone.

"I have a question for you, if you don't mind me asking."

Mizuiro frowned, hadn't he been the one ask a question first? He then put away his cell phone, he had grown accustomed to having it on his hand whenever he wasn't doing anything important, even if only to fiddle with the options or read old messages, it made him look busy to everyone else, and he felt safer when people thought he wasn't paying much attention.

He indulged him, though, "Of course I don't, what is it?"

Ichigo regarded him for a moment, before he asked, "Why do you always go for older women?"

That threw Mizuiro for a loop, of all the things Ichigo could have asked, _that_ was unexpected.

"Well, they're more mature, less likely to start a drama, and they look-" He wouldn't have been able to dodge the fist even if he HAD seen it coming.

He looked up from his position on the ground, the world had spun around for a bit, but it appeared Ichigo hadn't put much of his strength into it, he had seen him knock out larger people with just one punch.

Ichigo looked angry Mizuiro briefly wondered why it was _him_ that was angry, when the one that got unfairly punched was the one lying on the ground.

"W-What was-" He didn't get the time to ask, Ichigo had grabbed his shirt and held him against the side of a house.

"Alright, I'm calling you out on your bullshit. Right. Now." Later on, Mizuiro would identify that tone Ichigo used as his 'leader' tone, rather than his 'really pissed off' one. He didn't see Ichigo really angry until much later, and that wasn't something he'd ever forget.

But that's another story.

"What're you talking about? Where do you get off punching me when I haven't done anything to you?"

Ichigo looked him straight in the eye before answering, "Nothing? I think you just did. See, you lied to me, just now."

And just like that, Mizuiro's surfacing anger was slowly replaced by fear and confusion. "_Impossible,"_ he thought, "_How could he have-?"_

"See," Ichigo continued, "I don't mind it when other people lie to me, not normally. Lies, like people, aren't bad by nature. And if the lie had involved me, it wouldn't have bothered me that much. An apology would do just fine," his grip on Mizuiro's shirt tightened, "But this lie, your own lie, is affecting you, has been for a long time, and watching it is making me want to kill something."

"_So that's why?"_ That was one of the craziest things he had heard come out of Ichigo's mouth. Not because of the wording, or what Ichigo was talking about. No, it was because of the reason, the purpose Ichigo had put behind his words. He had just punched him out of goddamn _concern_.

It also confirmed his fears, his astonishingly perceptive friend had seen through him and his masks like no one else ever had before.

"I…" What could he say? Sorry? Apologize for worrying him? Try to justify it? The last could only make Ichigo angrier, but Mizuiro figured that if Ichigo already knew it, he might as well understand it.

"Older women," he began, no longer able to look Ichigo to the face, "They know what to do, they don't expect much out of a young guy, they lead you with their experience and don't ever blame you for your mistakes, after all-"

"You're just a kid, their young boy-toy, that doesn't know as much as they do." Ichigo finished it for him, and Mizuiro winced – that wasn't exactly how he would word it. But it rang true so much that it hurt.

"… Yeah…" Mizuiro kept his gaze trained on the ground to his left, and only looked up when Ichigo's grip on his shirt loosened.

"You're insecure, yeah, I gathered that much." Mizuiro's gaze went down again, this time to Ichigo's feet, and his mind tried going elsewhere – as far from this point as it could, perhaps he could just nod to whatever Ichigo said while he focused on his feet and, in the back of his head, justify it by telling himself that he was doing so that he would have a better chance at dodging a kick, if Ichigo were to throw one.

"But Mizuiro," he was brought out of his train of thought by the unmistakably worried tone Ichigo was using now, "In the end, you're just that, a boy-toy. You're always thrown away, unable to so much as form a connection and when you do get the chance to form one, it just makes the separation hurt even more."

Ichigo was probably talking about Miss Miyasaka, a former teacher that had lead him on for a while before telling him that she was married and moving to teach elsewhere. "_I… thought no one knew anything about that."_ He had thought there was a chance for something, even though it had gone just like the relationship before that one.

"I know that, I…" he swallowed, he was starting to feel like shit, "I know how it is, it's how it always is, but I've accepted it, and it's the only way I…" Dear god, he was so pathetic. He was trying to justify the potential hurt by saying he had 'accepted' it? He knew that was the shittiest excuse ever, he knew it was wrong, he knew it was a load of bullshit, and he knew it hurt more and more each time. But until now, he had thought he was the only one to ever know it.

"It's self-destructive, morally wrong, and absolutely fucking retarded." Ichigo told him, his tone firm but gentle.

Mizuiro had no choice but to agree, so he nodded. He knew all that was wrong about it, but he was too damn scared to do anything to change it.

Ichigo ran a hand through his orange top, sighing in half-annoyance, half-sadness, "I could have taken any other reason, you know. Laziness or a fetish I could deal with, but insecurity? That's not something I'm willing to overlook. You see, what happens later? Have you ever thought about that? You're not going to be a boy forever. You'll outgrow that phase, and then you'll aim elsewhere, you'll look for younger women, for the same reasons you look for older women right now, and then you'll hurt them just as much. And worse of all, you'll realize it, because you're not stupid, Mizuiro, and then I don't want to think what you will do to yourself."

Mizuiro's eyes widened at the implications, but Ichigo wasn't done yet, "Think about what I am implying rather than the future I just painted for you, because it's not happening, no matter what," he slung his backpack over his shoulder once again, "As I said, you're not stupid."

And the now-bruised student blinked, "_He's… he's saying that_…!" His eyes widened "_Of course, how did I not see it that way? Those women, they feel the same way, that just because I don't know, I can't tell them they're doing something wrong. They're just as insecure as I am!"_ Then he frowned a little, "_A relationship like that… can't be healthy at all."_

"Mizuiro, I'm not speaking from experience, but even I can tell you that no one, absolutely _no one_, knows how to lead a perfect relationship," He resumed walking, "Every single girl our age at school feels the same way you do, an emotional train wreck, but it'll be a cold day in hell before I'm friends with a guy whose answer to that is to chicken out."

And Mizuiro laughed, leave it to Ichigo to make it seem as if his goal was selfish. It hadn't been too long since he had begun to think of Ichigo as a selfless guy, and today was just further confirmation of that.

"_If he's right, then… I really am an idiot."_

"Why did you punch me, though? You could have just called me out on it without shaking my brain."

Ichigo just shrugged, "I find that a degree of physical trauma before a life-lesson helps the idea sink in. Also you were the only guy among my friends I hadn't punched; it's been bugging me for months."

* * *

><p>Of course, Mizuiro would tell Ichigo later on that he would still chase after older women, this time for the reasons he had been using as an excuse. Ichigo looked him in the eye and realized he wasn't lying, and then told him with a shrug that he that he could see the appeal.<p>

* * *

><p>Tatsuki frowned as she chewed on her lunch, she was sitting cross-legged in the circle her friends usually formed, and the reason for her apparent bad mood was currently sitting in front of her, happily eating her own lunch.<p>

Too happy, actually.

Kuchiki Rukia was apparently in the greatest of moods, she had been since she turned up in class, together with Ichigo. It wasn't exactly out of character for her to be a cheery girl, though Tatsuki would be the first one to call her nice-girl act a load of crap. Rukia had… something about her. There was something that bugged Tatsuki about her, and she only grew even more frustrated when she realized that that something most likely involved Ichigo.

"Kuchiki-san, have you seen Ichigo today?" Mizuiro asked.

And Tatsuki had to resist the urge to scoff at that. Of course Rukia had seen him today; they came to school together today as well. They always did.

"I haven't seen him since lunch began, I thought he'd be up here by the time I got here, actually." The Kuchiki girl answered, fiddling with an unopened juice box. She had been doing that for a while now, actually.

"Huh, maybe he decided to get out of school again? He seemed pretty bored in class." Keigo spoke around a mouthful of food.

"Don't speak with your mouth full, Asano-san. You're bothering Inoue-san."

"Don't call me that, Mizuiro!"

Maybe she was just over-thinking things, maybe it was nothing, and Rukia just happened to get along with Ichigo better than with anyone else.

She couldn't see why not, either, Ichigo was a great guy. Smart, physically fit, sensitive, intelligent and pretty darn good-looking. A bit touched in the head at times, maybe, but that was just part of his charisma.

Tatsuki frowned again. What if Rukia already knew all of this? Was this why she was around him so much? Did she know just what a good catch Ichigo was?

She shook her head; it was probably her first theory. After all, it would be too simple if it was the latter, and Kurosaki Ichigo just doesn't do simple. Whatever they were both involved in was probably crazier than whatever she could come up with, if only because Ichigo was in the middle of the whole thing.

"_Yeah,"_ she thought, "_He has a tendency to-"_

"CATCH THAT SHIT!"

"_-Catch that sh-" _Wait.

What?

* * *

><p>Rukia twitched, she had been bracing herself for something stupid, crazy, unexpected or all of the above. The moment she felt the rapidly approaching presence of her- what? Boyfriend? Suitor? The latter implied a deeper compromise, and the former was probably more adequate given the setting and person in question. However, Ichigo was probably as committed to their relationship as anyone could be committed to anything, what with him being… well, <em>him<em>.

But then there was their situation, and this time his words weren't quite enough to put her at ease…

* * *

><p>"Say, Ichigo…"<p>

"Hmm?"

"How exactly does this work?"

They were on their way to school on the morning after their date, and Ichigo had insisted that they hold hands until they got to school. She didn't see anything wrong with that, there was the obvious contact and closeness that the gesture brought, but she had no idea whether or not it was something to be expected.

"I assume you mean this?" Ichigo raised their intertwined hands as he quirked an eyebrow.

"What else could it be, moron?"

"A juice box."

She kicked his shin for that. Ichigo just chuckled and kept on walking as if nothing had happened, even if he had actually felt that kick.

"Holding hands is a normal display of affection between two people that care for each other. Not just couples, you'll sometimes see siblings do the same, the boys until a certain age, and girl get to do it until whatever age they feel like stopping. Girls don't even have to be siblings to hold hands with each other, it's just seen as a cute girl-friend thing."

Rukia was curious, "Why don't boys do it when older, though?"

"_Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaay."_

"_I was beginning to wonder, you were too quiet."_

"Good question. I suppose it's because it's considered un-manly to hold hands with someone of equal standing with you. Perhaps because they subconsciously don't want anyone to think they need the support the gesture brings. The most likely reason is that it implies a bond deeper than friendship or brotherhood between the two males in question."

Rukia titled her head, close her eyes a moment, thought about what he said, and then, "Eeeew." She scrunched up her nose.

"_Oh good, she's not one of those."_

"_You lucky bastard."_

"As for the rest, we'll keep it between ourselves for now. This is a high school we're heading to, and the rumor mill in there goes faster than porn in Keigo's favorite store. And while I don't mind standing on the rooftop and yelling about how I gave you the best night of your life, that would lead to awkward questions, people love getting the juicy details."

"_Not to mention the obvious innuendo. You should totally do that."_

"_Maybe when it's not partly a lie."_

"_It won't be as funny, though."_

"I see…" She turned pensive again, that was it for how they should behave in public. Pretend nothing is happening between them, she could do that.

"But what about when…" She stopped; she had grown too comfortable with the conversation and nearly asked something really embarrassing.

"When we're alone? That's up to you, I guess."

Of course he had caught on to her thoughts.

"But if you want suggestions on what's proper, you should reconsider who you're asking this to."

She put on an amused expression, "A psychopathic, violent, Pureblood Shinigami?"

He faked a hurt expression, "I was going to say 'guy', but it's good to know how badly you think of me. You missed 'brilliant' and 'handsome', by the way."

She laughed and walked a closer to him, now holding his arm.

"Huh, that's also a display of affection."

"I know, you didn't have to tell me about it, you know. I already knew all of it."

He looked down at her with wide eyes, "Then why didn't you stop me?"

She stepped away from him and walked a bit further ahead, he hadn't noticed they were about to arrive, probably because he wasn't used to just walking. Rukia looked at him over her shoulder with an amused expression.

"You look cute when you explain things."

Then she flicked her hair and kept walking, anyone who looked would have seen a prim and proper lady who wouldn't do what she had just done.

"_Man, you just got served. I'm glad you kept her."_

* * *

><p>That was rather bold of her, she thought. She was sure he wasn't offended, but it was the only thing she could think of doing at the moment.<p>

She had resolved to ask some of the other girls for counsel, but asking Orihime or Tatsuki seemed… weird to her, for some reason. In the end, she decided that it would be best to ask someone from outside their usual group. Natsui-san, Ogawa-san or even Honshō-san would do, even if the last one was kind of weird.

She was brought out of her musings by the arrival of the one that had just yelled. The main subject of her thoughts.

Ichigo arrived at the rooftop; he seemed to be out of breath and looking for all intents as if he had run a marathon. He looked around him, searching for something, his eyes went over their group and landed on Rukia's for a moment, but no hidden message was sent, he just resumed his search until his eyes widened once more.

Then he jumped off the rooftop.

* * *

><p>Tatsuki gasped along with Mizuiro and Keigo. Chad's only response was to let his eyes widen in surprise before running to the edge of the roof to check on their friend. Tatsuki didn't have to be told even once to follow suit.<p>

* * *

><p>Rukia was doing to things inside of her head. The first, hoping that that moron had landed face-first on the ground.<p>

The second, despairing the fact that she had forgotten her memory-modifying device back at home.

Her worries were unfounded, it seems, as unfortunately enough, Ichigo had landed on his feet just fine, and his friends were sighing in relief – to them, Ichigo had just landed on the tree next to the school's central building and quickly climbed down. He was now hurriedly chasing-

Her eyes widened as she turned around and ran back into the school, out of the rooftop and to the ground floor where she could catch up with the psychopath who just happened to be chasing after a Jigokuchō.

* * *

><p>"Just- just what the hell did you do this time, Moron?"<p>

Ichigo looked up from his position, an innocent look on his face; he was sitting cross-legged outside of the school's gym.

Oh, and he had a Hell Butterfly on his left hand.

"Why hello there, Princess! How did you like lunch? You look radiant, by the way, all covered in sweat and heaving as if you'd run desperately after some handsome rogue."

Rukia redirected her need to palm her forehead towards a punch aimed at his face, which he dodged, of course. She took great satisfaction in the way his eyes widened when he saw the wall he was sitting against crack.

"Well, what the hell did I do now?"

"I just asked you that, Moron!"

"_Seriously? Twice in the same conversation? I'm feeling woefully inadequate."_

"I haven't done anything!"

Rukia breathed in, closed her eyes, willed herself to calm down, count to ten, and see this from Ichigo's perspective. To his eyes, he had not done anything out of place, she could understand that, Spirit King bless her but she _understood_ that. But then again, to Ichigo's eyes, a misfit with tattoos on his face could give his father a haircut with a shotgun and that would be just fine.

"You just jumped off your school's rooftop without taking into consideration your friend's reactions-"

"Chasing after what could be a potential danger for us."

Rukia stopped. Okay, so maybe the risks had been worth it. Jigokuchō, much like the one currently resting on Ichigo's open left palm, served two main functions. The first one wasn't what the maniac was referring to, which was guiding Shinigami through the Senkaimon, the dimensional gateways used by Shinigami to go into and out of the Human World, without having to deal with the very unpleasant Dangai. She shuddered at that, she had been through the precipice world a few times during her training, it never stopped being unsettling.

The second function worried her, and made her realize why had done what he did, even though there were a million other ways to-

Wait.

"Ichigo."

"Hmm?"

"As far as I understand it, you're capable of Shunpō when inside of your own body."

"Yeah."

She nodded silently, keeping her eyes closed.

"How come you didn't think to use that to catch it before you jumped off a GODDAMN ROOFTOP?" Her tone went from quiet to very annoyed and finally to extremely angry in one sentence and Ichigo felt compelled to put is left hand as far as possible from Rukia to keep the Hell Butterfly safe.

"Funny that you mention it, see, I make it a point to never use Shunpō inside of school grounds. It could become a habit to do it when I think no one can see me, and then there's a risk I'll get caught doing it. You know I don't like taking needless risks."

"And how is jumping off the rooftop a lot less of a risk than using one measly flash-step to catch a butterfly?"

The sound of the wind rustling the leaves could be heard. The mixture of melodies compounded by the air rushing between blades of grass and the small leaves in the bushes made a pleasant melody for anyone who would put some of their heart's care to listen.

A moment passed, the melody of nature walking alongside it.

Then another did, and the melody felt as if it had moved a few steps ahead, as the wind had stopped blowing, and the echo was the only trace it had left behind.

The man with the orange head lifted his gaze from the frail butterfly resting on his hand, directing his eyes towards the increasingly irritated visage of the petite Shinigami girl in front of him.

"Oops?"

Neither the wind nor Mother Nature had anything to say to that.

Kuchiki Rukia, however, had never ranted _harder_ than in that moment.

* * *

><p>Of course Rukia didn't believe his 'Oops'. Not for half a second. It wasn't that Ichigo couldn't make mistakes; after all, he admitted to those openly and could draw you charts about how wrong he could be on many levels. He had done that once, actually.<p>

No, it was that he had said it with that bedazzling, heart-stopping smirk that just said it all – that he had done all of it just to rile her up, and it had worked so much it irked her.

They were on their way to Urahara's shop, the rest of the school day forgotten the second Ichigo decided the bucket-hat-wearing shopkeeper would be able to explain just how a Jigokuchō happened to be wandering around Karakura, and coincidentally, the High School where the resident Shinigami spent most… well, some of his time.

"It doesn't make sense!" Rukia was getting frustrated, the carrot top either refused to be forthcoming with his information, or that butterfly really didn't have any message to carry. "A Jigokuchō can only do two things, provide safe passage and carry messages. I don't see any Senkaimon around here so the best bet would be a message was being carr-"

"I think I could preserve this thing. Dad has some carbolic acid that I can use."

"… What?"

Ichigo rolled his eyes, "Rukia, if I say it didn't have a message I could decipher, then it didn't. Why would I lie to you like this? You know me better than that."

Her mood switched from puzzled to annoyed in a second, "Oh no, don't try to make me feel bad about this when it's you who-"

Wait.

"You think it might have a message you just can't receive?"

Ichigo nodded with a smile, "Exactly. There are no Senkaimon around here, as you said, so it pretty much HAS to be carrying a message. These things don't just grow on trees. Like money. I've tried that, the sunburn wasn't worth it."

She made sure to keep them both on the topic, if only for her sake, "But then who could have sent it? I'm assuming it wasn't meant for you, seeing as you can't decipher it and had to actually chase after it to intercept it. I don't like this, not one bit."

Ichigo smirked, "I like the part where you don't even care that I intercepted what could potentially be an official Shinigami message."

Now it was her turn to roll her eyes, "I have priorities, and being crucified and having my soul destroyed is very high on my list of things I want to avoid."

"Well, that's some grim conversation you're having there."

She blinked; they had arrived at the Shōten without her even taking notice.

Ichigo shrugged while looking at the shopkeeper, who was currently lying on his side outside of his shop, donning his usual attire and carelessly fanning his face.

"Rukia's just worrying a little bit too much. It's your fault, by the way."

Urahara looked offended, "I did not, in any manner, train Rukia to overreact in such a manner to my meaningless, simple butterfly."

And now it was Rukia's turn to look affronted, "I wasn't trained to-"

Oh.

Uh-oh.

It was one of _those_ days.

That tick in her eye was back.

"_You're never going to get to second base at this rate, Ichigo."_

"_I got to second base the day I met her. Technically."_

"_You hear that? That's the sound of the imaginary tears shed by the Zanpakutō doomed to sharing its existence with an eternal virgin."_

"I'm assuming you sent me this thing for a reason." Ichigo used the time it took Rukia's brain to reboot to sit next to the comfortable-looking shopkeeper, who offered him a fan of his own. He politely rejected it, but Urahara looked as if he knew he would.

"I'm surprised you're questioning any excuse to get out of school early."

"I got my final exam results today; that's more than enough excuse for me to go out and try to freeze things with my sword."

"_You have to stop this, stick to fire. You do not possess power over the elements."_

"_Yet."_

Whatever Urahara had to say to that was interrupted by Rukia, who took his fan from his hand and snapped it closed, and then put it under the shopkeeper's chin. The surprised man couldn't help the shudder that overcame his body courtesy of the girl's murderous glare.

"You're going to tell me what's going on, and you're going to tell me right now." Kisuke simply couldn't help but be reminded of a certain Shinigami specialized in healing arts that could tell you anything with the gentlest of faces and still freak the hell out of you.

He went cross-eyed looking down at his fan, "Careful there, Kuchiki-san. That fan has seen more bloodshed than most Zanpakutō ever will."

The fan dropped to the ground in surprise, it was swiftly recovered by the shopkeeper, and everything was alright in the world again. Except for the annoyed woman.

"Hey, I have an idea! How about you guys come into my shop so I can explain just why I thought to send a completely blank Hell Butterfly in Ichigo's general direction?" The man was all smiles as he resumed fanning himself while standing up.

Ichigo put his fist over his hand, "That's a great idea! Why didn't we think about it sooner?"

It disturbed Rukia just how much pride she felt at being able to contain the immensely frustrated scream that threatened to escape directly from the bottom of her soul.

* * *

><p>"Alright, so what's the deal, bucket-man?"<p>

Ichigo stared at the shopkeeper with a curious, but guarded expression. He was subconsciously aware of the fuming woman sitting on the opposite side of the table. Her current state of being was most likely the reason he had opted to sit as far from her as possible.

"_I'm just saying, she's going to think you're bipolar if you treat her like a princess one day, and then drive her mad the following day."_

"_I have a voice in my head that never hesitates to point out my inadequacies, has yet to surrender in its quest to get me laid, and is probably just as insane as it claims I am."_

"_Point."_

Urahara smiled widely, "Oh, yes. You see, remember when your big friend beat up that Hollow in the most fantastic demonstration of the art of wrestling ever recorded?"

"_Hell yeah."_

Ichigo couldn't help but return the big smile, "Of course I do. It was awesome, wasn't it?"

Urahara sat upright and nodded sagely, "Awesome is an understatement. I've seen bigger, stronger Hollows get taken down by more powerful attacks, yet nothing has ever been as amazing as seeing that Moonsault he did from that pole. I say-"

"_**What?**_"

Both men were suddenly startled from their admiration talk by the power behind the yell that came from Rukia.

Rukia pointed her finger at Ichigo, "You were there? And you didn't do anything? That Hollow could have killed innocent people; it could have killed your best friend! Just… just…!" She deflated when she saw the frowning, perhaps angry? Visage of Ichigo. From the back of her mind, a tiny voice spoke, "_I probably went too far."_

"Rukia. I hope, I sincerely hope, that you didn't just insinuate that I would let anyone, much less someone I care about, get hurt, and in front of me, no less."

Rukia didn't back down, she would not let him cow her, she was stronger than that. She stopped pointing at him, but her angry scowl didn't go away.

"_You like angry women, don't you?"_

"… Make me understand."

Ichigo kept his stare, and while he would later admit that an angry Rukia was a hot Rukia, right now, he couldn't help but feel insulted. Insulted because his passionate, perhaps irrational devotion to protect was being called into question. To him, it was as if she had just told him that he didn't exist. That the version of himself he had built ever since his little sister grabbed his finger, a feeling he could still remember if he summoned his memories while looking at his hand, had an existence that could be called into question, had pissed him off. Had it been someone else, he'd probably have teeth imprints all over his knuckles and elbows. But this was Rukia, and in her eyes hid something else that, surprisingly, hurt him more than the aforementioned implications.

Disappointment.

Would she understand if he explained? Probably. Would she like it? No, she wouldn't. She had been part of the experiment, even if she wasn't the focus, so she'd be understandably pissed. And he couldn't help but wonder, had she built a version of Kurosaki Ichigo in her own mind that wouldn't go so far to do what he did? Did that template of him embedded in her thoughts fit with what he truly was? And if it didn't, would she be disappointed? Would he have to reshape himself to fit her expectations?

No, Ichigo shook his head at that last thought. That was ridiculous in many ways. Though it scared him that, all of a sudden, a girl who entered his life in the strangest way conceivable, was beginning to gain such power over him.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

* * *

><p>Ichigo blinked, the familiar voice didn't come from inside of his head, not as usual. Then he noticed his surroundings, he was atop a very familiar skyscraper, surrounded by empty space that was only filled at certain places with several other comically tall buildings.<p>

"It's been a while since you've done this, you know."

He turned around, and there, as expected, stood the form of his sword, coat flapping in the wind.

It was quite windy, actually. Strange.

"What do you mean?"

The spirit of his Zanpakutō walked slowly to stand next to him near the edge of the rooftop; "You don't know this, but back before this place had any sort of shape, before _I _had any shape, whenever you were troubled an immersed yourself too deeply in your thoughts, you'd end up here, in your mindscape. It's a good thing you're not any more introverted, else I'd have to put up with your hideous shade of orange a lot more."

Ichigo frowned, that was a curious bit of information, "What was that? I didn't know I had a female Zanpakutō, and that she was a jealous little bitch."

The spirit just chuckled, before placing a hand on Ichigo's chest, and pushing him over the edge of the roof.

"Get the hell off my lawn."

* * *

><p>Ichigo prided himself in not blinking stupidly at Rukia's still angry visage when he returned. Not much time had passed, maybe not even a second, as usually happened whenever he went into his own mind.<p>

He sighed, "Alright, sit down, I can make you understand, though I can't promise you'll like it."

Rukia nodded and sat down, not once taking her eyes off him. The two doors that led out of the room were located behind herself and Urahara, and Ichigo would have to crash into one of them if he wanted to bolt out of the room, so she didn't bother checking if they were closed. She had a chance to stop him if he tried. The tension permeating the room had eased a bit, but it was still quite easy to cut with a dull knife, as it were.

Urahara had just finished unwrapping a piece of candy he had taken out of his pocket, and ate it happily.

"The thing with Chad and that Hollow was an experiment."

Rukia nodded, she had figured as much in the time it took her to process what she had just learned.

Ichigo took her nod as his cue to continue, "Chad is a strong guy, stronger than any other… 'Normal' human I've ever had the honor to meet. He has a strong will, an even stronger pride, and both of those are backed up by the kindness hidden inside his massive body build," He closed his eyes and considered how he'd word his following words, "But recently, perhaps due to my presence, Chad's presence gained an interesting quality to it, added to the fact that he could somewhat see Hollows, it was sufficient evidence to me that Chad had even greater potential."

Rukia decided to follow his train of thought, just to see if she was right in her deduction, "So you set him up against a Hollow to see if he'd live?" She left out the part about how Ichigo could have let his friend get hurt, she figured he'd explain that later.

"To be blunt, yes," Ichigo looked at Rukia's body language, it hadn't changed, making him realize that she was, in fact, in her element, it was this sort of thing that she was very good at, if her talk about being raised as a Kuchiki noble was truthful, "however, the experiment took place in what was practically a controlled environment. As previously mentioned, I was there. I was ready to intervene if that Hollow got too close to hurting him or anyone else, I was nearby and I am faster, way faster than a Hollow of that level."

Rukia nodded, that was one point she could concede. She knew Ichigo did not take risks he deemed unnecessary, and she could see that to him, in that situation, there had been absolutely no risks whatsoever, and she knew him enough to understand that that wasn't overconfidence on his part.

"There were two purposes to this test, I believe."

Rukia turned to look at the shopkeeper, who had just finished up his candy.

"I assume you know what they were?"

"Maybe," he turned towards Ichigo, "do correct me if I'm wrong here, Ichigo. The first purpose was to bring out Sado-san's already obvious potential, I approve of the methods used, and I agree that there really weren't any risks involved."

He covered his face with his fan, and lowered his head so that what was visible of his expression became shadowed by his hat, "The second purpose… well, I believe Ichigo was just covering all his bases."

Rukia raised a curious eyebrow, and turned towards Ichigo, whose face had adopted a solemn expression.

"As grim as it may sound, I was making sure that if I were to die, someone else would still be around to protect what I no longer will be able to."

Rukia's eyes widened at that. Her thoughts crashed so hard that it gave her a headache, but the new thoughts surfacing were enough to distract her from that.

Kurosaki Ichigo was strong, perhaps ridiculously so. The factor of ridicule here being just how fast he acquired the power he had. He was stronger than any being his age had any right to be. She knew there were plenty Shinigami that could beat him, she just never gave the thought any importance, blinded as she was. Ichigo gave the impression of someone stronger than life itself. Perhaps if his power measured up to his will, he'd be an unstoppable being.

But it was not so, even if the thought of Ichigo made her think of an insurmountable wall, common sense brought her back to earth, and worse, to the thought that he could be defeated.

Shinigami were strong, very hard to kill, Kurosaki Ichigo even more so, but he was also still alive.

Still very much mortal.

"Oh jeez, did somebody fart in here, boss? You all look like someone did."

Everyone turned their heads towards one of the entrances to the small dining room. A frowning face with topped with red hair was poking through a small opening in the door.

Then everyone just started laughing.

"_That's a way to relief the tension, I guess."_

"_Kid's got a funny timing, but it helped, I guess."_

"_I meant farting."_

* * *

><p>The sun was setting now, and Ichigo and Rukia were finally on their way back home, the path along the river before they entered the familiar area surrounding the Kurosaki Clinic was desolate as usual.<p>

Which was fine, Ichigo figured. He loved this path exactly because it provided a distinct lack of distractions. He could easily tune out the river's flow regardless of how strong it was. The wind rustling the leaves of the occasional tree was even easier to forget about. The only obstacle his wandering mind could find now and then was the occasional… 'Melody' produced by the avian creatures he had a… deeply ingrained hatred for. None were present today, fortunately.

Having Rukia with him didn't change things much; she was pretty quiet, her light build and graceful gait made her steps nearly unnoticeable.

Yet there was that _goddamn feeling_ he had been having since they left the shop. Like someone was out to get him, but he knew, just _knew_, that they weren't being followed. Something was up, something was going to-

"I suppose I owe you an apology?"

Ichigo blinked.

"What?"

The girl watching next to him got a little closer, their arms brushing each other's, "For insinuating what I did back there, you know."

"Don't see why you should apologize, really. I was a bit of an ass."

Rukia quirked an eyebrow, "Just a bit?"

"Yeah."

She chuckled, "So you're not mad?"

Ichigo shrugged, "I may be a vindictive asshole, but all it takes is a pretty girl to make me forget why I was angry in the first place."

Rukia didn't blush this time, she was getting used to Ichigo's brand of compliments. He'd say a few nice words off-handedly without giving them any importance while sound brutally honest.

"Hey, Ichigo, do you mind if-"

Her words were cut off by Ichigo's arm in front of her body.

"Goddamn, I hate being right about stuff like this."

Ichigo glared in front of him, all while stepping closer to the Shinigami girl.

A few yards ahead of them, and moving closer at a sedate pace, was the bespectacled Quincy.

"About time you showed up."

Ichigo twitched a bit at that, it wasn't so much the words or the tone that bothered him, it was the fact that the Quincy pushed his glasses up his nose and the sun reflected off them just right – enough to make his eyes invisible due to the glare.

"_Give the guy some credit – he's good with the asshole act."_

"You weren't following me." It wasn't a question, of course. Ichigo's unspoken question was clear to Ishida, "_How did you know I'd be here now?"_

"I have my ways of finding what I'm looking for." He was now close enough to make his voice heard without raising it.

Rukia had had enough of the boys' banter and pushed Ichigo's arm away with a huff, "What do you want?"

The smile in Ishida's face almost made Ichigo put his arm in front of Rukia again, but she'd probably bite him for making her look like she needed protection. She had done that before.

"Well, Kuchiki-san, I just wanted to see if Kurosaki was interested in playing with me."

"_Say nothing."_

"_I haven't heard anything nearly as suggestive as that said with a straight face before, I have to-!"_

"_Shut the hell up."_

"My mommy always said to not go playing with strangers even if they offered candy. You don't even have candy. You're pretty bad at this."

To Ishida's credit, he managed to keep his 'I am going to make your day suck' façade. For all of half a second afterwards.

"You broke into my apartment!"

Ichigo crossed his arms, "You let me in!"

"Not the second and third times!"

Ichigo looked confused, "I did what now?"

Ishida's eyes narrowed, was this just another one of his juvenile denials? Ichigo had been brutally honest so far – he apparently thought that was humorous. What motive would he have to deny this? Nothing was taken, but the place seemed like someone had fired a tornado-gun in his closet after the third time.

It… really wasn't Kurosaki's style. The high-functioning sociopath hanging from his window that night would have probably chosen to break in while he was still home on mere principle.

Uryū sighed, "It doesn't matter, not now. I'm here because of this." He reached into his pocket, and he noticed the slight shift in Kurosaki's not-so-relaxed stance, "_Good. Take me seriously for once."_

Ichigo stared at the coin-shaped… tablet? Medicine?

"I don't do drugs."

Ishida smirked, "Good for you. This is Hollow Bait. It's an old lure we Quincy use to lure in Hollows in the vicinity."

Ichigo blinked at that, a hundred possibilities ran through his mind, and he wasn't quite sure if the one he voiced was the best one, "So you're setting up some kind of Hollow Circus and want me to catch them?"

"_I'm all for being inside the pretty lady, but I'm not sure if having Orihime in you is such a good thing."_

The Quincy scoffed, "Don't be ridiculous, we're doing a competition."

Ichigo's blood started pumping, a challenge sounded real promising.

"Do elaborate."

Ishida had to resist the return of his smirk, "_Took the bait, so to speak."_

"It's simple, I use this to lure in all the Hollows in and around Karakura, and we both starts hunting them down, whoever kills the most within the next 24 hours wins. Simple as that."

Ichigo loved a challenge, and this one sounded… pretty darn stupid.

"You'd have a bunch of Hollows come into a highly populated area? That's the most retarded thing I've heard all month. And have you seen the mentally challenged chimp I hang out with? I don't think Keigo could come up with something this… Okay, maybe."

"Don't insult my intelligence, Kurosaki. This is bigger than whoever might get harmed by this, I don't really care about them."

"_My jimmies, they have been rustled."_

"Besides, if you're confident about your strength, then you should be able to keep anyone from harm."

Ichigo… was actually considering it. Right now, more than anything, he wanted to shove the Quincy's pride so far up his ass it'd reach Betelgeuse.

He wasn't given much time to think about, as the Quincy crushed the bait.

Ichigo's eyes widened, "Rukia-"

"On it!" And the girl pulled Ichigo's Shinigami form out of his body. She had prepared the glove the moment she saw the bait.

Ichigo ran past the smirking Quincy, "You better not die to some Hollow, you four-eyed arrogant _asshole_, because I'm going to kill you when I'm done." With that, he slapped the Quincy's back hard enough to make him stumble.

Ishida regained his balance and took off in the direction opposite from Ichigo's, heading for the closest Hollow – Ichigo had already gone after one that was even closer, but Ishida figured the carrot-top's head start wouldn't matter much, the Quincy was a ranged fighter, after all.

"_Let the hunt begin."_

* * *

><p>Rukia was left alone in the street; she didn't really worry about a Hollow coming after her; her senses were sharp enough for her to get away before any low-level Hollow could detect her.<p>

She was just slightly miffed at what had happened just now.

"_Boys."_ She rolled her eyes.

* * *

><p>In Yokohama, south of Karakura town, a man dressed in the most ridiculous getup imaginable, shuddered.<p>

"Is something wrong, Don Kanonji?"

The man with the mustache looked at his assistant, "Oh, sorry, just…" He fixed his sunglasses; they had dropped rather low on his nose.

"… Just my imagination."

* * *

><p>Ichigo jumped over the a dinosaur-looking Hollow charging at him from behind, thrusting his sword upwards just in time to impale a flying Hollow attempting to get him while he was distracted.<p>

He floated about for a moment; he could see cracks in the air forming all over the place.

"_That's three…"_

He turned his gaze down before diving towards the Hollow that had initially charged towards him.

"_A hundred or so to go."_

* * *

><p>An arrow flew through a crack in the sky, and whatever entity had been trying to use it as an entrance let out a wail of pain before dying.<p>

"_Six…"_

Ishida vanished from his position on the street and appeared on top of a rooftop just in time to see a Hollow smash the ground where he had been standing.

A carefully notched arrow soared towards the new target.

"_Seven…"_

He turned around; three arrows flew from him in the span it would take a normal man to even realize he had been holding a bow. Three simultaneous cries of pain came from the destination of glowing projectiles.

"_Ten…"_

No. One of them didn't disappear; it had just had half its body blasted off.

Easily fixed.

Ishida nodded to himself inwardly, "_Ten."_

* * *

><p>Ichigo felt slightly guilty to be having fun.<p>

He used the wall of a 3-story building to propel himself towards a group of Hollows that decided it wasn't exactly smart to go solo against a guy who had just murdered a dozen of their numbers all by himself.

He reached the two of them, and spun in mid-air, never losing his momentum, and the wind made visible by the way his blade cut it made it look like a drill had just destroyed the seven Hollows attacking him.

He landed on top of a utility pole, and watched as the blood of the slain Hollows splattered under and in front of him, carried by his own momentum and the wind.

"_Twenty-two."_

He turned his gaze towards a new ripple in the sky, too damn close to an elementary school for his comfort, and jumped.

* * *

><p>Rukia did her best to follow Ichigo from a safe distance; she'd had to take a few detours around some alleys in order to keep the Shinigami with the big sword between herself and the Hollows.<p>

She didn't bother keeping count, though she figured Ichigo probably did. It really wasn't a matter of who killed the most Hollows; after all, without a neutral party to keep count for the both of them, it was truly impossible to keep a real count of their kills. Either of them could lie about it to win.

The Quincy just wanted to test himself, more than he wanted to test Ichigo. They would both see the results of their handiwork, check which one was the most tired of the two, and depending on how they felt about it in the end, they would determine a winner.

"_Regardless of the risks and how stupid the whole situation is, it's probably best for them both to bond in some way."_

She rolled her eyes, and once again, "_Boys."_

* * *

><p>"<em>Thirty-one."<em>

* * *

><p>"<em>Thirty-six."<em>

* * *

><p>"<em>Forty."<em>

* * *

><p>"<em>Forty-seven."<em>

* * *

><p>"<em>Fifty-two."<em>

* * *

><p>"<em>Sixty."<em>

* * *

><p>Ishida frowned at the dissolving particles of his latest target, that last arrow confirmed it for him, something was definitely off.<p>

The number of Hollows was… strange, to say the least. He had said Twenty-four hours only to make Kurosaki more nervous about the oncoming Hollow assault, but he knew that the bait wouldn't attract more than a little under a hundred Hollows. That had been Hollow number seventy, and unless Kurosaki had left town, which he knew was false, given the fighting he could sense, or was lousy enough to only kill a couple dozen Hollows - which he also knew wasn't true, he could feel they were both pretty even – then that bait had been a bit stronger than it should have.

The Hollows coming were getting stronger with time, which meant… he wasn't quite sure, actually.

But that wasn't all, his last shot felt… exactly how they all felt since the contest started. Which wasn't good, they had been feeling weird.

His aim wasn't off – the mere thought made him shake his head. They just felt… different. It's not like he cared much for the arrows, as mere spirit energy constructs, they were only around for as long as it took to form them and destroy a target, so there wasn't any time for him to feel any sort of attachment to them.

But the way the spirit particles formed around them… it just felt _off._ As if something made them… heavier? Without slowing them down? He didn't know. And that really bothered him.

* * *

><p>"Rukia, are there supposed to be this many?"<p>

Ichigo landed next to the slightly-winded girl, he was aware she had been running around, and it was amusing to see the paths she'd take to reach him while avoiding the Hollows.

"_She'd make a fine free-runner."_

Rukia shook her head, and took a moment to catch her breath, "I don't know, really. I know about the bait, yes. Quincy History may be an obscure subject, but I knew what the bait was the moment I saw it. However I can't be sure if they've been improved or changed ever since the documentation about them was written. The ones I read about, however, weren't strong enough to attract this many Hollows."

Ichigo nodded, "So either the Quincy likes high stakes, or something's wrong."

"_You should go ask, but I'm betting he'd rather wear women's underwear than admit he made a mistake."_

"_Bad image - real bad image, you bastard."_

"I guess I'll just have to keep-"

And he had his breath evacuate his lungs alarmingly fast. That spike of energy just now – it… it felt an awful lot like…

"_God-fucking-damn."_

* * *

><p>Tatsuki had been having a shitty day. First, although the Karate team had been celebrating the end of exams, as well as the inclusion of a couple promising members, she hadn't been able to really get into the festivities. She'd been in a lethargic mood all week, and her energy drink really wasn't doing much to help that.<p>

And as if to mock her for having a crappy day, there was this couple of ghosts that seemed one step away from engaging in raunchy sex floating in front of the baseball field.

"_Get a ghost-hotel or something, you couple of perverts."_

It hadn't been too long since she started seeing ghosts. Actually, she'd been able to see them for a long time, but they were blurry and… distorted enough to pass off as either a trick of light, or her own imagination.

That all changed since the beginning of the year. She started seeing features, clothes, faces. Muffled words became clear sentences spoken by floating human figures.

Of course she didn't dare telling anyone about it. That'd be dumb, she was already getting enough flaming from being the way she was and hanging out with a bunch of dudes most of the time – she didn't need to add 'Crazy' to the list of things people would say behind her back.

Besides, Orihime did the same, and no one gave Chizuru hell for being such a blatant lesbian.

Ichigo told her it was probably because she was intimidating and desirable at the same time, and some guy just didn't like that combination.

When she asked him if he thought her attractive he just shrugged and said 'Well, duh.' And stole her last dango.

She never quite forgave him for that.

"Tatsuki-chan!"

The tomboy shook her head.

"What is it?"

* * *

><p>Ichigo stood among the bushes, looking at the soccer field.<p>

He didn't think he had ever felt such immense relief ever in his life.

Karin had decided to stay later than usual to play today, the unusual schedule was the main reason he hadn't bothered to check on her first. When he felt her panicked presence it had been as if a train had grown legs and kicked him in the balls.

But then he came upon the funny sight of his sister sitting on the shoulder of one Yasutora Sado, whose arm had taken on the same appearance it had previously. And if the vanishing remains of the bunch of Hollows around him were any indication, he had been doing just fine.

The tan giant's head turned in Ichigo's direction, and the latter had been too distracted to hide in the bushes he had often used to check on his sister as she played.

The gentle giant merely smiled and gave him a thumb up behind his back, so that the raven-haired girl sitting upon his shoulders wouldn't notice.

Ichigo couldn't help but smile back, before nodding and taking off.

This area was covered.

* * *

><p>Rukia fiddled with her phone, she knew there had to be a 'Silent' option somewhere, it had been going off like mad ever since the whole thing started, and it was starting to get annoying.<p>

"_Hurry up and finish this already._

* * *

><p>"GAH! Mizuiro, hurry the hell up!"<p>

"Nothing good is ever done in a hurry, Asano-san."

"Don't call me that! And dinner is beyond good!"

Keigo grabbed Mizuiro in a headlock and started leading the latter at a brisk pace towards the first fast-food join he could see. Mizuiro's protests were stopped by a shiver running down his spine.

When Keigo let go of him, they looked at each other to confirm that yes, they had both felt that.

"… I don't think I'm hungry anymore."

…

Keigo smacked the shorter guy's head, "Like hell you aren't! We're eating, and we're eating now!"

* * *

><p>"<em>How did it go again?"<em>

That old memory, it only came up whenever he fought, and as he balanced a pre-teen girl on his shoulders at the same time as he punched a black-and-white dog monster into oblivion, Chad felt it come to the front of his mind once again.

"_Yasutora Sado."_

He moved the left, dodging a swipe, doing his best to keep his upper body moving, if only to keep his charge safe. It threw off his balance a bit, but the beasts were slowing down. Or perhaps he was just getting faster?

"_You're strong."_

He kicked the creature in the lower half of its body, making it bend over before using his giant right arm to finish it off. His kicks and punches with his left arm were strangely getting more effective.

"_So please…"_

He turned around and punched the air in front of him; a beam of reddish power flew from his right arm and straight into the mask of yet another monster.

"… _Be kind."_

He moved his shoulders to better accommodate the girl, so far she had actually been useful. Ichigo's little sister seemed to have better senses than he did, and kept calling out targets before Chad could detect them.

"_Kinder…"_

He felt her slap the side of his head, "To our right, mister!" Chad turned in time to destroy yet another mask with a punch of his mighty arm.

"_Than anyone."_

* * *

><p>Tatsuki cursed, loudly. It was probably the first time she used a word that strong in front of Orihime.<p>

The day just kept getting shittier and shittier, Chizuru had caught up to the two of them when leaving school, and there just had been no way to shake her off. She went off about how seeing two girls leaving school hand in hand gave her an erection.

That would have been humorous if it hadn't been so disgusting.

Then she went on about how hard nipples counted as an erection, and Tatsuki punched her hard enough to knock her unconscious.

That seemed so small and far away, even though it was really annoying and had happened literally half a minute ago.

She stood next to Orihime, Chizuru propped up against a wall behind them, looking up at a…

That could only be a monster.

It was an octopus-like being, except with more tentacles than she had ever seen on anything – even in the freakiest erotic manga she had caught Keigo reading. The tentacles seemed to be joined to a body hidden by a massive white mask.

"I…"

Tatsuki looked at Orihime.

"I really wish I couldn't see it."

And Tatsuki's heart went out to her friend. That really made two of them.

But right now, seeing it would be useful in that it would aid in their escape, so she was thankful for it, for once.

The thing started talking, _talking_.

"**You can see me, can't you?"**

Neither of them answered, they just _couldn't._

The thing let out a deep, horrible chuckle, "**Well, it's not like it'll make any difference."**

Tatsuki would later compare the sound and effect that came next to that of a shotgun.

The creature, now that it was seen up close, had several holes on its mask, and each one of them fired unusually large projectiles in several directions, none were particularly aimed, but there were enough to ensure that at least one would hit their mark.

Next Tatsuki tasted the floor, it came at her face too fast to react, and she quickly reached to her right to see if Orihime had dropped down as well.

What she found wasn't quite Orihime.

Orihime was there, yes. But not directly next to her, between herself and Orihime – actually slightly over the two – lay Chizuru, who had apparently managed to wake and shoved the two of them down.

And if the blood pouring from her back was any indication, she had also covered the two of them.

Tatsuki's blood ran cold.

She did her best to stand up and survey the damage, not even bothering to check her own body for injuries first.

Chizuru had apparently taken two shots, one to the left shoulder and another to her lower back. The latter worried her, but it wasn't close to the spine and it hadn't penetrated deep enough to rupture any organs. The first one looked as if it had been stopped by her scapula, but the fact that it was firmly lodged in her body meant that it had probably penetrated the bone and gotten stuck.

Orihime was now kneeling next to her and the beast's rumbling voice brought them back to reality.

"**Don't worry about… Actually, yes, she'll be the first of your worries now."**

Before Tatsuki could process any of its words she felt a hand crushing her windpipe. She looked down to see that the arm the hand was attached to belonged to none other than Chizuru.

"What-"

The red-headed girl stood up, still choking Tatsuki, with a surprised look on her face.

"I- I don't know! I'm not doing any of this." Her glasses were ruined, and tears were starting to cascade down her face.

Tatsuki kicked the girl away, and grit her teeth when she heard her scream in pain. She rounded up on the monster.

"What did you do?"

The creature had landed not too far away, and the face behind the made seemed to be smirking in amusement, "**That's just my special ability, of course."**

"Stop it! Don't send her after me! Fight me like a man or whatever it is you are!"

Tatsuki stood her usual Karate stance, a lot tenser than she should be, given her training, but she truly couldn't be blamed for it.

"**That's quite alright; she won't be your only problem for too long."**

Then Tatsuki heard Orihime shriek. She turned around once again to see her being pulled by the arm by a guy wearing their school uniform – a senior she knew in passing, actually. She ran at her friend and jump-kicked the man's face, effectively sending him down to the ground and freeing Orihime's arm.

"Are you okay?"

The girl looked pretty shaken up, as if she hadn't been scared before, but nodded nonetheless.

"**Now it begins."**

Tatsuki looked in the direction the creature seemed to be centering its attention on, and her face paled.

Students, at least a dozen of them, just… shambling towards them, all sporting wounds caused by the same projectiles Chizuru had been harmed with, the only difference between them and her was that they were all hit more than just a couple of times, and the dead looks on their faces revealed that they were totally unconscious and had no control of their bodies.

Tatsuki did her best, she did her damned best. But no matter how much she hurt them, the zombie-like students just kept getting up, and soon she was overwhelmed.

They held her arms behind her back and her feet slightly above ground, it took four guys to do that, and even then they seemed to be struggling. She looked to her left, where another four guys held down Orihime, who was on her knees.

"**Well, that was quicker than I thought it would be."**

The beast had her attention once more, and had her mouth not been covered by an arm she had been desperately biting on – but stopped after she tasted blood, she didn't want to _eat_ anyone – she would have cursed at it even louder.

"**Now let's see,"** a long, snaky tongue came from the mouth underneath the monster's mask, yet the creature still spoke perfectly despite the appendage's roaming, "**Number one, suicide by hanging from the school roof after your schoolmates take turns in raping you both…"** Tatsuki's body nearly lost all the fight at the idea, but only for a moment, "**Number two, Suicide by dropping you off the school roof after being raped by your schoolmates…"** Tatsuki began struggling harder.

The creature seemed to be pondering something, but Tatsuki honestly didn't care what it would come up with next, "**Hmm… well, it seems my chaste mind can't come up with anything else!"** It looked at Orihime, who was screaming around the hand that held her mouth shut, "**Shut it, you."** The guy holding her head up slammed her face against the floor hard enough to break the girl's nose.

"**I just had an idea."**

The creature approached Tatsuki, and its tongue seemed to grab at something beneath the mass of tentacles covering its body.

"**I'll make you kill your friend first."**

And with that, it stabbed Tatsuki with one of the bullets used to control people. Tatsuki screamed in pain for a moment, before the pain disappeared, it seemed to have a sedative effect, though she couldn't help but wonder how the hell she was still conscious with that thing coming out of the side of her skull.

"**Oh yes,"** The masked monster's tongue licked at Tatsuki's face, "**That will be just perfect to-"**

And Tatsuki bit it, and bit it _hard._

The monster howled in pain, and the distraction seemed to be enough to make the guys holding both Tatsuki and Orihime let go of them both.

"**Let go! Let go!"**

Tatsuki did, that was the most disgusting thing she had ever done, but she didn't have time to retch, so she ran at the creature and threw a punch.

It didn't quite reach its destination, though.

"**There we go; you're under my control now."**

Tatsuki struggled, but nothing she told her body to do worked. Then she unwillingly turned towards the kneeling Orihime. And walked slowly towards her.

"**This will be fun to watch."**

Tatsuki wanted to scream; she wanted to yell at Orihime to run, more than anything in the world she wanted something or someone to kill her so she wouldn't hurt her best friend.

Orihime didn't need to hear her friend say anything, Tatsuki's eyes were horrified, and just expressive enough to tell her what Tatsuki wanted her to do.

"… _No."_

Her friend shambled towards her, every step making her movements more firm and decided – the monster's control was getting stronger.

"_I…"_

She felt Tatsuki kick the side of her head, hard enough to make her not notice how much harder her face hit the ground. Everything was a bit of a daze, she could see Tatsuki's feet kicking her in the side, she could feel herself rising and falling with every kick, but the pain was rather number unless she tried to move.

"_I won't run away."_

The kicks stopped long enough for Orihime to try standing, she only managed to kneel for a moment, and her hands reached towards Tatsuki's face.

"… _Just this once."_

She put her hands on her best friend's cheeks, and smiled.

"Let me be the one to protect you, just this once."

* * *

><p>Ichigo arrived at the school to see… not much, really. He had been blinded by light the moment he got there and had only just begun blinking the spots left behind away.<p>

"Santen Kesshun! I reject!"

His eyes focused, and he could now see the buxom figure of Orihime standing over a seemingly unconscious Tatsuki. He was curious about that, but what got his attention even more than the blood and the ugly-ass, porno magazine-born Hollow was the bright triangle of light that had formed between Orihime and the Hollow.

"_You shall not pass! Anyone?"_

It disappeared as soon as the creature stopped pushing against it with its tentacles, Ichigo reached for the sword behind his back and-

"Koten Zanshun! I reject!"

"_That sounds pretty badass."_

Ichigo then saw what looked like… a bird? No, it was a tiny…

It was a tiny guy screaming with a manly-ass voice and flying in a seemingly kamikaze flight towards the Hollow, who split in half upon impact.

"_I missed something, I missed something real good."_

"_Sure sucks when that happens."_

The Hollow destroyed, Ichigo contemplated running at his friends – his cover be damned – and heal them with what healing Kidō he knew. Then he saw Orihime talking with six little…

"_I'm not saying they're fairies, Ichigo, but… they're goddamn fairies."_

Fairies, who floated around her, he couldn't quite tell what she was being told, but then Orihime nodded decisively – something real _weird_ o n her – before directing both her hands, palms open, at her fallen friend.

"Sōten Kisshun."

Then the downed tomboy was surrounded by a shield of light, and Ichigo took a moment to get a feel for the power.

It… it was more familiar than he was comfortable with.

He saw Tatsuki's head wound disappear, the blood spilled vanish, and… her clothes get fixed?

"_I tuned out a lot of your healing Kidō training, but I'm know enough to know that that's not quite how healing works."_

"_Something else is going on here."_

Ichigo saw Tatsuki and Orihime stand and embrace each other, crying in joy, before they turned towards the form of Chizuru and their other classmates.

He felt a hand on his shoulder, and turned to look at the serious face of one Urahara Kisuke.

"I'll deal with this, don't worry about them, there are still other things to worry about."

Ichigo fought back a negative; he thought he knew the shopkeeper enough to know that he would indeed protect his friends. But he was also curious as to what just had happened.

"_No time to ponder. There's still more Hollows."_

Kisuke fixed his slightly-tipped hat, "I already got your sister home and brought Sado-san to the shop, he was pretty tired." He fixed Ichigo with a look, "Go."

"_Trust the bucket-man, he seems serious."_

"_I'm going to make Ishida eat his glasses."_

* * *

><p>Rukia was considering shattering her phone against the sidewalk, and then she heard someone walking up to her.<p>

It was the Quincy, strangely enough, and he had a frown on his face.

"Kuchiki-san."

Rukia's eyes narrowed, "Ishida-san."

The Quincy kept walking as he spoke, "This is the first time I address you directly, I believe."

Rukia crossed her arms, doing her best to ignore her beeping device, "Are you proud of yourself? You've put a lot of people in danger."

"It is of no matter," He looked her in the eyes, "I won't let any innocent person get hurt, if that's what you're wondering. I've been going out of my way to help, too. If I fail to protect the people of this town, then I have no vocation as a Quincy."

"_And I'd have failed the one person to ever believe in me."_

Rukia looked at the Ishida for a moment, and then something on his hand got her attention.

His fingers were bleeding.

Uryū stopped walking before getting too close, "It hurts to admit, but I think something's wrong-" Then his glasses smashed against face thanks to the force of the punch delivered by one irate Kurosaki Shinigami.

"No shit! What gave you _that_ impression?"

Ishida looked over his broken glasses at the pissed off Ichigo.

"The bait wasn't the problem."

He disappeared from where he was sitting on the ground just in time to dodge a kick from Ichigo, though not quite fast enough to avoid being lifted by the front of his shirt.

"That's no excuse! I could have lost nearly everything with this stunt of yours; they attacked the school, my friends! My goddamned sister!"

The still-held Ishida pulled his glasses up his nose.

"_When did he put on new ones?"_

"I apologize, is that enough? Because I believe we have enough in our hands without worrying about what could have happened."

Then Ichigo followed the Quincy's gaze, it was directed above his own head at the sky. His eyes widened at what he saw.

"Finally, managed to mute it!"

Rukia's relief at shutting up her phone was short-lived as she saw what had made Ichigo let go of the Quincy's shirt.

"_I know for a fact, Ichigo, that the sky does not have a gaping anus."_

"_Tell that to the freaking hole."_

He wasn't given much time to wonder just what the hell he was looking at, because the hole itself expanded even more before the edged began to seemingly break and expand, forming a huge crack in the sky.

"Oh no."

Ichigo turned to Rukia, "What is that?"

Rukia turned looked at Ichigo with a haunted look, "Menos Grande."

Ichigo's eyes widened and he turned back just in time to see a massive pointy-nodes mask peek through the newly formed-hole in the sky.

"_What the fuck is up with the gratuitous Spanish?"_

His attention was taken away by a massive platoon of Hollows seemingly fleeing from the Menos Grande. Yet before Ichigo could busy himself with the, he heard what sounded a lot like a bazooka and a missile flying.

Probably because someone actually fired a bazooka that sent a bunch of missiles at the Hollows.

He heard Ishida's surprised voice, "What was that?"

"Just in time, aren't I awesome?"

The stunned trio turned to look at Urahara, who was standing next to a blank-faced Ururu and an angry-looking Jinta, who carried his massive steel bat, as usual.

Ururu's Ofuda-covered, huge-ass rocket launcher was new, though.

"Oh, it's the Urahara torture squad."

Ishida blinked.

"That's pretty mean, Ichigo."

"I know."

The shopkeeper raised his cane while smiling, "Let us take care of the little fellas, you guys take care of the big one."

Ichigo nodded, "Okay."

"Wait, what?" Ishida was really losing his composure, "How do you think we're going to do that? Who the hell are you, for that matter?"

"I'm a shopkeeper," he ran towards the startled Quincy, "and these," he handed him something, "are discount coupons for the awesome Urahara-Shōten!"

"What."

"Hey, I never got any of those!"

"You keep getting free stuff all the time, Ichigo."

Ishida crushed the paper coupon in his hand, not before memorizing the location, though, "That doesn't answer my question at all!"

Urahara blinked and stopped fanning himself, "I just told you who I am."

"Well, yeah, but you, what about- Gah!" He massaged the bridge of his nose, now he knew who he was; this guy was probably the one who taught Ichigo how to be a pain the ass.

They were interrupted by a massive, bony foot stepping not too far away were they stood.

Ichigo looked at the thing's face, craning his neck up, and up, and up, and-

"_Well, uh, what now?"_

"_Now you ask, as kindly and nicely humanly as possible, if they've got a syndicate."_

"_I don't think that matters by this point."_

"_Nah, I think it's my time to shine."_

Ichigo's outward smirk couldn't be hidden by any effort he could have mustered.

"Ah, Ichigo just remembered he's a Shinigami, I believe."

Rukia got _that _message, could it be, that finally-

"Yeah, I still have my Shikai; it's time for a test in an uncontrolled environment."

Ichigo's attention was drawn by another tremble of the ground, and the Menos' massive six feet-

… Six?

Out of the hole in the sky came yet another two massive Hollows with similar masks.

"_Well, it seems he's brought some amigos."_

"_Who's giving the gratuitous Spanish now?"_

"_What the hell is up with the name 'Menos Grande', That's Spanish for 'Big Minus' or 'Less Big', this is the least appropriate name ever given to anything."_

"Alright, Rukia, stay back with Kisuke and the asshole. I'm gonna deal with this."

Rukia would have punched him if she had been close enough to, "That's three Menos you're dealing with here! If it had been one, maybe with-"

"Rukia."

Ichigo gave her a look between reassuring and amused. And she sighed.

"Look, just… don't die, alright?"

Ichigo nodded, before leaping up to the skies.

Rukia's phone started beeping again.

* * *

><p>"Hey, assholes!"<p>

The three giants didn't pay him any heed, content with grabbing at the Hollows running away and eating them.

"_Fine."_

"Let's do this."

Ichigo closed his eyes, held his sword in his right hand above his head in a vertical position, pointing skyward.

"_Now."_

"Bathe everything under your protective light, **Shugoshin no Zangetsu**."

* * *

><p>The resulting explosion of Reiatsu made the world shake.<p>

Rukia could hear everything Ichigo said, and _of course_ that would be the name of his blade, if someone had asked her who would have a blade with the words '_Guardian Deity'_, in its name, it would be Kurosaki Ichigo.

That didn't make her anymore prepared for the sudden increase of power she felt, and had it not been for Urahara holding her by the neck of her shirt, she would have fallen to her knees.

Ishida felt a bit annoyed, to think that all this time Ichigo had been capable of Shikai, and he had not even once attempted to use more power against him or the Hollows in their competition – well, that was a kick in the sack, so to speak.

"_I'll be stronger, much stronger."_

Urahara's grin at finally having his curiosity fed was nearly face-splitting.

"_Let's see what you can do."_

* * *

><p>Ichigo smiled as felt the rush of power, and held his blade parallel to the ground.<p>

His sword had actually gained a bit more size; it was wider and longer, it had several lines running from its guard to the tip, beginning in crisscrossing wave-like shapes at its widest point, then extending and parting from each other along the blade's side, before joining at a single point at the blade's tip.

It had become darker, in contrast with its edges, which had become a much brighter shade of silver. It still had no guard to speak of, but the handle was connected to the blade by a thick black ring patterned in the same way as the blade itself.

Ichigo spun the blade around by its apparently-bandaged handle, the balance felt right.

"Alright then you ugly bastards."

And he vanished.

He reappeared to the side of the one who had come in first, which now had its focus shifted to the cluster of power Ichigo had become. It didn't have time to turn and see what he was doing there before Ichigo flew in with a slash, effectively cutting off the thing's arm.

It let out a massive how of pain, and Ichigo could see the thing growing back almost instantly.

"_That's some pretty fast regeneration."_

"Not fast enough!" The Shinigami flew towards the Menos' massive mask and cut it in half horizontally.

Or well, tried to do that.

The Hollow just put its remaining hand up to its bloody mask; the cut had been pretty close to killing it.

"_My Reiatsu is fluctuating too damn much."_

"_Well, stop grinning like an idiot and focus."_

Having a lot of power was near useless in a fight against anything stronger than a basic Hollow if you couldn't make it steady – if the power output fluctuated too much it resulted in a massive leak. Not exactly something you'd want to happen to your energy.

Especially when you kind of, you know, need it.

The Hollows cut arm had grown back. The other two seemed to be contemplating either attacking Ichigo, or eating the wounded Menos.

"Screw this, stick with what works best, I say."

He took his stance, his blade in a reverse grip behind his back, and swung.

"Getsuga Tenshō!"

The resulting blast of slicing energy was a lot bigger than any previous ones, and it effectively cut off the Hollow's right hand, as well as the mask it had been covering.

"_Does that count as one Hollow?"_

"_Doesn't matter, lost count."_

The other two Hollows apparently understood from the sudden death of their partner that this Shinigami wasn't one to take lightly, if their apparent teamwork as they moved as one towards Ichigo was any indication.

"_Let's try something new."_

And Ichigo vanished again, only to reappear just a few feet away from the Hollow that had been standing to the right. His sword was held horizontally across his body, which was tilted upwards so that the tip was aiming at the Menos' mask.

One hand held the sword by the handle, as usual; the other hand had its palm against the sword's flat side, slightly caressing the engravings.

The sword started to glow, and the markings started to look as if they were being filled with liquid energy fed from the sword's guard, quickly moving across the blade following the engraved patterns, until they reached the tip.

Ichigo simply whispered, "Getsuei. (Moonbeam)"

And the energy flew from the sword's tip, neither slowly nor quietly, it was something akin to a laser cannon in both potency and noise. A blue beam as thick as his sword twice over hit the Hollow, drilling through its mask and everything behind it, until it was visible from the other side of the Menos, soaring a hundred feet in the sky before vanishing.

The Menos had a clean hole in its mask, and only stood a heartbeat longer before it crumpled and disintegrated.

"_That one definitely counts as something."_

Ichigo didn't have an extra second to spare as he felt a massive surge of power from the last Hollow, which had its mouth wide open and had begun howling in what appeared to be a warning.

"_I think that's what they call 'Cero'."_

Ichigo couldn't dodge, the fact that he had been flying lower than the creature's head, which meant the cero would be fired at an angle where it WOULD hit the ground, causing immeasurable damage to Karakura.

"_Plan B, then."_

Ichigo just put his sword in front of himself, tip aimed at the Menos.

* * *

><p>"Ichigo's doing fantastically, beyond expectations, I'd say." Kisuke chirped in from the fence he was sitting on.<p>

Rukia started, "Why isn't he moving? If that Cero hits him, then-"

"Watch."

She turned her gaze back towards the flying maniac's form in the sky. She heard the red beam of destruction being fired, hitting its mark, and then…

Stopping there.

* * *

><p>Ichigo held his ground, at first he thought it would be too much power to handle, but his sword held firm, and as long as he kept the tip of his sword at the centre of the energy blast, he wouldn't be harmed.<p>

Finally the world's colors returned – all he had been able to since the beam reached him see was a dark red tint on everything, including himself.

Had the Menos been capable of emotion, it would have begun feeling fear about now.

Ichigo spared a look at his blade, the lines running along it where sparking with red and black energy, he knew what to do now.

"Hey ugly! He's your stupid crap!"

This time he held the sword flat-side first against the enemy, one hand to the handle and another forming a fist.

"Getsumei! (Moonlight)"

He punched the flat side of sword on his side, and from the other dozens of tendrils of dark energy shot towards the Hollow, some seemed to have veered off-course but immediately curved to reach the Menos.

The massive monster roared in pain as they tore him apart, holes appearing all over its form, before what little hadn't been disintegrated by the initial onslaught exploded in a cloud of black energy.

"_I really love being me."_

"_There is not a single person that knows you that is unaware of that fact."_

* * *

><p>Ichigo walked at a sedate pace towards the last place he had seen Rukia and company. He felt a lot more tired than he thought he would.<p>

"Ichigo!" Speak of the devil, and the pretty Shinigami will appear.

"Hey."

"That- that was-!"

"Amazing?"

"Hell no! Are you insane? Letting that attack just hit you head on? I know what you were thinking, but don't you think the Hollow would have aimed UP if you, oh, I don't know MOVED THERE?"

"… Didn't quite occur to me at the time. I blame the power high."

"Besides, Kuchiki-san, it wouldn't have been nearly as awesome if he hadn't done that."

"Don't encourage him, you lousy salesman."

Ichigo shook his head, but then remembered something, "Where the hell is Ishida?"

"I'm here."

Ichigo turned to see the Quincy leaning against a utility pole, looking at him intently. The Shinigami glared, "Listen up, you horrible moron, I don't give a single damn about what the Quincy did, what the Shinigami did, or what you think we should do about it. You put everyone in a lot of danger, if you have a problem with me, take it up with me. Next time, man up and aim your bow at me instead of putting the whole town in this situation."

"I apologize."

"Damn straight you do, now give me back my goddamn card."

There was a strange silence; it would have gone on for quite a bit longer than it did had it not been for Urahara laughing all of a sudden.

"Your what now?"

"My card, you know. Made out of metal as of now unrecognizable? Has the words 'Torn' and 'Card' on either side? Real shiny, sharp edges though, be careful with the edges."

Urahara's laughter raised in volume.

"That thing? Why do you think I have it?"

"I taped it to your back, duh."

"You- you what?" Ishida reached behind his back, and sure enough, between his shoulder blades he found the object the carrot-top was demanding be returned.

"This thing! This is why my powers felt off earlier! It's been making it feel weird whenever I take in spirit particles, you- you cheated!"

"Nuh-uh."

"Yes you did!"

"Did not."

"Did too!"

And there went the maturity in this conversation. The raucous laughter from the shopkeeper really didn't help things.

"I just put it there so that you wouldn't destroy any souls."

Ishida started at that, and looked at the thing held in his hand closer.

"Explain."

Ichigo nodded, "That thing, the Torn Card, it began as just a medium to channel my then-inexistent Zanpakutō's power to purify Hollows. Somewhere along the way, it became something else, something I honestly can't quite explain, but I didn't notice it until I stopped depending on it."

He took a deep breath, "There's no way I would have let you kill a single Hollow without making sure their souls wouldn't be destroyed. So I put that on you when I slapped you in the back when this whole thing began."

Ishida stared at the Shinigami, then at the card held between his fingers, "I see…" He threw it back at Ichigo, who expertly caught it.

The Quincy simply turned its back and began walking away, "Next time, then."

Ichigo grinned, "Next time."

* * *

><p>Ichigo walked out of the shower, fully clothed, as had become the norm at some point since Rukia's stay, and entered his room.<p>

He saw Rukia on the floor distracted with her new box of crayons, there was no way she'd react to anything short of another Menos right now.

He lay on his bed; he had repeated to Rukia what he did a long time ago – to let him do the worrying. But now there was a lot more to worry about. There was absolutely no way that the guys up in Seireitei didn't detect what had happened that evening. What had previously been 'We still have a month or so' became 'a couple of days at most.'

Despite all his training, he didn't feel ready for whatever would come, he felt as if he had been procrastinating the whole time, and by Zeus that made him-

"Hey."

Ichigo turned his head to the side; Rukia had stood up from the floor, and seemed to be trying to show him her drawing.

He took it from her hands and examined it.

It was Ichigo.

Correction, it was an anthropomorphic bunny with Orange hair, a Shinigami uniform, and a massive sword.

"Do you like it?"

Ichigo fucking _loved_ it.

"It's nice, you're getting better."

"Thanks."

With that, Rukia walked towards her closet, turning the lights off before opening it up, "Good night, Ichigo."

"See you come the morn, Princess."

Ichigo turned to his side, his back to the closet, and stared at the wall, deep in thought.

"_We have an early day tomorrow."_

"_What do you have in mind?"_

"_I'm framing the fuck out of that drawing."_

* * *

><p>Aaaaaand that's a wrap, ladies and gentlemen.<p>

So I've been gone for a while, anything I say will come off as an excuse, but I'll say it anyways because I know at least someone is going to be curious about it (I know I would).

Since I know some will be curious, the story is basically: Went through a period of nearly-crippling depression, got mad at my own weakness, then sad again because of my own weakness, then a lot more mad at how easily affected I was.

However, I lived through that. Then I had a bit of a vacation, I can't get more tan than I am, and I never really burn. I could tell you that I had a lot of fun with that…

Or I could tell you the truth: I hate beaches, dear god I've lived at the beach for my whole life. My idea of vacation isn't going to a resort with _even more_ beaches.

Little bit after that, I came back to writing, only to look at my notes, scratch my head and go "What the fuck was I trying to do here?" I'm serious, I lost track of everything I had planned for this chapter (not the future ones, those are much more carefully planned). So I had to map the whole damn thing over, I covered half a wall in my room with scraps of paper with drawings/writings and post-it noted filled with ideas that didn't make much sense anymore.

Ergo, this chapter took a lot longer to write than any other, but fear not, this shan't happen again, not while I still draw breath. Hey, it's longer than usual, longer than the prologue, even!

So… there you go, not much more to say at this point other than I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did, it was real fun. Oh yeah, someone pointed out I put 12/16/12 as the date I edited some chapters, not much to say other than GODDAMN! I must have been sleepy. Or I'm an amnesiac time traveler. I'll leave it as it is, though, it amuses me. On another note, I have a funny message for those of you who have lost faith in me and this story: Read the first letter of every paragraph in this Author's Note.

- Flameal out.


End file.
